Written in the stars
by XxoxLightningXxox
Summary: This story is for non Alice x Shun lovers, it's about Alice and Masquerade. Please note they ARE NOT the same person. You'll see my little story about it soon. Rated M for adult themes and coarse language, R for future chapters. Includes some tragedy. Xx
1. A Night to Remember

Written in the stars

Xx3xX

**A/N: **Haere mai, people who are... reading! This is a straight up AlicexMasquerade story that is mostly rated M and should be rated as R in some future chapters. Now if you're a hater of AlicexMasquerade and think they are a total mismatched shit couple, please go and find some other soppy non-cannon AlicexShun fanfic. I'm not dumb, I just think AlicexMasquerade is a kinda cute couple. But Alice and Shun were never together... why do people think they are?

Anyway, enough of my babbling. You should be getting on with the story. Please note that Masquerade and Alice are not the same person... this story follows on from when Alice and Masquerade were merged and became disconnected. In this story they were two seperate people merged together and were finally freed from each other. Masquerade is the same as he is when he was merged with Alice, except 100% male, has a family and eventually has a normal life. Well... after returning from this realm similar to the Doom Dimension. I know this plot is strange, but I'm just mixing it up a bit. I've made a few... alterations to Masky and added in my own brainchildren :D that's right! My own characters. Some are assholes, some are... cool. I guess there are a few changes to Alice aswell. Also please note that the brawlers are in their twenties. Alice is twenty and Masquerade should be twenty-one but almost twenty-two. The others... I cant be bothered explaining. One more thing-

**Masquerade: **Enough already! You're probably boring the readers to death!

**Lightning ( me ) : **Masky, you can shush. Anyway, until I was so rudely interrupted, I'd like to say a few things to make a bit more sense-

**Masquerade: **No one cares, just get on with my story!

**Lightning:** YOUR story! * kicks Masquerade in the backside * this is MY fanfic and you happen to be my "minion" here. So if you start going around claiming my stories, the next kick is gonna go right up your-

**Dan: **I call not doing the disclaimer when Lightning bothers to do one!

**Lightning: **I'll do the disclaimer when I've finished explaining what I was supposed to explain five minutes ago! BUT WAIT! I'm not finished yet!

**Masquerade: **You're so weird, you know that? Can I just get rid of you right now?

**Lightning: **Go on, I'd like to see you try! :P

**Masquerade: ...**

**Lightning: **=3 I thought so, you #%$! Okay... better get on with the story.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own ANY of Bakugan or stuff associated in this story except the plot and the characters that _I _created. Thank God I dont own Masky... :D

**Masquerade: * **getting pissed off *** **Hey!

**Lightning: O.O... Enjoy the story! .^_^.**

Xx3xX

Alice Gehabich loved stars.

She loved how they embraced the sky with perfection, like diamonds. She could lie on the grass outside of her grandmother's mansion and become lost in that endless jewelled sky. She loved to dream of her future, wondering what was out there for her.

Tonight the moon was full. It was an unlikely experience for a full moon to grace the skies where Alice lived. She sometimes wondered if full moons meant something. She wasnt superstitious, she was just a curious young woman.

Alice's life had been turned upside down a few years ago. Her grandfather passed away mysteriously in his lab after an experiment gone wrong associated with Vestroia. Alice was unaware of her grandfather's death and entered the lab to ask her dear grandfather if he wanted a glass of water to quench his thirst, but she was shocked to find her grandfather was slumped against a control panel... he was dead. It hurt Alice for what seemed like forever.

She had been staying with Runo and her family since then, as they were the first people to come straight to her aid after they heard the news. She was regarded as a niece to Runo's parents and a sister to Runo herself, and she couldn't have been happier.

'Alice, dear? Where are you?'

Alice slowly got up when she heard Runo's mother calling. She was staying with Runo and her family and helping out around the cafe. She often waitressed, made drinks or was trapped by lovestruck men. She figured that as long as she was helping, she was happy.

'Alice! Oh, there you are.' Mrs Misaki said, sighing in relief. 'I was hoping to find you. We need some help to serve last-minute customers. Think you can handle whipping up some coffee?'

'Sure.' Alice said, brushing the grass off of her dress. She headed back into the house, and back to the kitchen. She filled out orders and made coffee, while Runo went around tables serving the customers. It took an hour until the last customer was gone, and the girls sat down at a clean table in exasperation. Runo looked out of the window and sighed.

'Oh my God, it's raining!' She snapped, putting her head in her hands. 'And I thought it would be a good night for us to go to a night club or something. But no, God's decided to piss on us tonight!'

'Just because it's raining doesnt mean we cant go out.' Alice said, being optimistic as always.

'Okay, fine, Miss Perspective.' Runo said, getting up. 'Then throw on a slinky black dress or something and we'll get going.'

'You dont have to tell me twice.' Alice said, moving over to get out of the seat. She got up and looked at Runo. 'Are you calling Julie and Mira or am I?'

'I'll send them both a text.' Runo said, pulling her black cardigan on. 'Go on, if you want to go to this club, get dressed.'

Alice smiled and ran upstairs. As soon as she got to her bedroom, she slammed the door and ransacked her wardrobe. Hydranoid emerged from his "hiding place" and turned to Alice. If Bakugan had eyebrows, this would be where Hydranoid would raise them.

'What are you doing?' He asked politely.

'Making an effort to look sexy.' Alice replied, finding a black Chanel halter dress that would incredibly show off her somewhat grown cleavage. 'Turn around.'

Hydranoid sighed and did as he was told. Alice changed from her boring waitress clothes into her dress rather quickly, and even pulled on a pair of high heels. She pulled her hair out of it's clasp, and the long silky red locks fell against her back and bounced lightly on her shoulders. She applied some shiny wine red lipstick and her favourite earrings, and shoved her waitress clothes under her bed. 'Hydranoid, how do I look?'

Hydranoid turned around. 'Well, I think you look very...'

Alice winced.

'I'm trying to find the right word. Let's see... you look very... formal. In an "out there" feminine sort of way.'

'Like I'm trying too hard?'

'... a little bit. Not that much, but... oh, nevermind. It's not much to worry about.'

'Thanks, Hydranoid.' Alice said, smiling. 'I'll be back soon, so try not to eat those chocolate chip cookies I left on the desk last night.'

'I'll try not to. Have fun, Alice.'

'I will.' Alice said, grabbing her phone and hand-bag. She ran back down the flight of stairs, which was strange for a woman who was wearing high heels. Runo was waiting, and looked slightly impatient.

'About time!' She said, laughing. 'I was about to leave without you. Okay, Julie and Mira will meet us at the nightclub. I think the boys have decided to join in too, so it'll be like a night of getting drunk and laid for the whole family.'

'Ugh.' Alice said, utterly disgusted. 'Shun's going to be there, isn't he?'

'Don't get your panties in a twist. But I guess he is.'

'Ew. I'd rather have sex with a donkey than go near him.'

Shun was the only person that Alice was a little harsh on. As a teenager, Alice had on and off feelings for the ninja, and regardless of his feelings towards her he always ignored her. The day he asked her on a date was the day Alice gave up on him- she waited four hours for Shun after the agreed time, and walked home in the rain. The next day when she asked where he was, it turned out that he'd forgotten. From that time onwards, Alice was tired of Shun not giving her time, ignoring her and degrading her, and Shun remained hopelessly in love with Alice. He wasn't the one for her, and she knew she wouldn't make that mistake again.

'This will be a fun night, Alice, don't go all pessimist on me. Come on, let's go before my dad gets us to clean up!' Runo said, tugging her best friend's hand.

'Okay, okay. But if anything goes wrong, you owe me big time.'

'Everything will be fine, trust me.'

Xx3xX

Things turned out to be good for a start. Alice hoped the night would go smoothly and that she might get lucky. Having a man would get her mind off of things that needed to be forgotten. Hopefully.

When they finally arrived at the popular nightclub, Alice turned to Runo. 'How do I look?'

'Actually, you look hot.' Runo said, crossing her arms. 'It's a look that screams to men, "I'm available!" But to really get a man in bed it takes confidence.'

'This dress doesn't go for anything. I mean, it doesn't even give my breasts a proper shape.'

'It does, Alice, honestly. You've got incredible boobs. I'm so fucking jealous I could get an implant and it still wouldnt work. What's your size again?'

'34DD.'

'Holy shit. That's fucking huge. Are those natural?'

'Yes, they're real. Do you want me to get an X-ray to prove they are?'

'Not really. Hey, look, the family has finally arrived!'

'Hey, skanks.' Dan adressed, his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

'Sluts works better.' Billy said, sniggering.

'Keep that up or I'll shove this heel up your ass.' Runo said, rolling her eyes.

'Do you know how bad the traffic is tonight?' Julie gasped. 'Mira and I were stuck for fifteen minutes by Central Park, so I was almost going to get out of the car and beat the shit out of the bitch behind us who kept shouting at us. Honestly, next time I'm coming with you guys!'

'That wasnt very nice, Jules, I don't think violence solves problems.' Alice said uneasily.

'Can we skip the unnessecary pep talks and go and get a drink? I'm thirsty after running around the cafe for the last hour.' Runo interrupted.

'Gladly.'

'Mmhm, whatever you say.'

The group entered the nightclub casually, and were almost blinded and rendered deaf by the ridiculous amount of strobe lights, lasers, pumping music and continuous socialization of the many people around them. The boys headed straight for the bar, leaving the girls stranded by the door.

'Geez, what a get-up.' Mira said, raising her finely plucked eyebrows.

'This should be fun!' Julie said happily.

'Whoa whoa whoa, sister, before you indulge in that damned dance floor, at least wet your throat.' Runo said, practically dragging her friend over to the bar. 'The last things those lap dancers need is another girl upstaging them. We dont need you turning into a prostitute.'

She sat Julie on a bar stool and sat down next to her, then signalled Alice and Mira to join. Alice and Mira looked at each other, shrugged demurely and approached the bar.

'I'll get a gin, thanks.' Runo said to the barman. She looked at her friends. 'What do you guys want? My shout.'

'Oh, I'll pay, Runo.' Alice said. 'I'll just have a shot of vodka.'

'Party pooper.' Julie sulked. 'Two creme de menthe's.'

'That rounds to thirty-five seventy.' The barman said, filling a glass with clear gin.

Runo handed over a few notes, and recieved some coins as change. 'We should go dance after drinks, yeah?'

'Fine with me.' Alice said, nodding her head slightly.

'Yeeessss!' Julie whined. 'I've been _dying _to do that for weeks!'

'You're such a drama queen.' Mira said, shaking her head while the drinks were served.

The girls downed their drinks rather quickly, and headed over to the dance floor. They made their way through the large crowd of dancers, and eventually found a spot to dance. They began swaying their hips with the music, and then were enraptured by the rhythm. Alice and Runo danced to several songs before tiring, and backed out of the crowd. However, Julie and Mira were still full of energy, and continued. Runo shook her head at them.

'Good ol' Julie.' She said, smiling and sitting down. She breathed deeply. 'She's got this knack of getting all the hot guys. Where the hell can I get skills like hers?'

'You're fine the way you are, Run.' Alice said reassuringly. 'Don't you dare change.'

'Hey, little firecracker with the red hair.'

Alice hesitated when she heard a strong, handsome, deep voice that she almost fell in love with. She looked over her shoulder to see two men at a table. One was rather good-looking with jet black spiky hair, and the other was hiding his face under a hood. There was something about the hooded man though, and Alice felt rather attracted to him. He had a hefty, brawny body by the looks of it, and big, well muscled, strong arms. Alice felt like this mysterious man was luring her in, and she wondered what stranger was hiding under the hood. She could tell he had a big, strong chest and a rock-solid washboard abdomen, and the thought made her mouth water. It was just something about him...

'Are you done?' Runo snapped.

Alice felt her face going red. The man hidden under the hood laughed, and Alice's heart almost soared. The stranger had a full-throated, beautiful laugh that could surely make any woman faint. Alice was sure she was about to do so.

'Ignore her, kid, she just wants attention.' The man with the black hair said. 'Name's Terra. And he's... well, he probably doesn't wanna tell you.'

'That's right.' The hooded man said, raising his head slightly. 'I'm... no one. If I ever told you my name, you should pretend you never heard it from me.

'Oh. Well... I'm Alice.' Alice said, smiling politely. 'I dont usually talk to strangers, but this is a start.'

'Nice try, baby.' The hooded man said, shaking his head. He drained his drink. 'Damn, this shit's good. I could go for another one.'

'You get pissed, I'm not dragging you back to your place.' Terra sighed.

'Alright... last one.'

'Seriously?'

'Yeah... can't be fucked waking up with another hangover.' The hooded man said, leaning back slightly. He looked at Alice. 'You're a pretty good dancer, baby. Saw you flaunting your shit hardcore and watched you for a while.'

'I'm not that good...' Alice said shyly, smiling demurely at this somehow handsome stranger.

'Hehe... you don't know what you've got.'

Alice smiled. 'I'll go and get you a drink, my shout. Terra, Runo, do you want anything?'

'I'm good.' Terra replied.

'Another gin, thanks.' Runo said.

Alice got up, and headed back over to the bar. There were a few dodgy men, so she stayed next to Julie. One edged up to her however, breathing his horrible beer breath.

'Hello there, sexy.' He said, grinning. 'What do you say you and I get a little physical and head back to mine, eh?'

'Get lost.' Alice said quietly, backing away. The man came closed to her and grabbed her bottom, then pulled her into his body.

'Get off of me!' She cried.

'Gonna work this body hard, boys.' The drunk freak said to his gang members, and pulled Alice in closer. Suddenly the man was grabbed by his neck and was lifted off of his feet, and shoved back. Alice stumbled and blinked, startled. She looked up, and saw the hooded man towering over her.

'Leave her alone, man, and there won't be any problems.' He said to the drunk, his voice threatening.

'Suppose you're gonna make me now?' The drunk snapped, and grabbed Alice again. 'See, she wants me, don't you honey? You're gonna be good in bed...'

'I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE!' The hooded man shouted, and launched a fist into the drunk's face. Alice fell back but Julie caught her, and she was suddenly blinded by the horrible lights and the fight going on in front of her.

Xx3xX

**A/N: **So who is this mysterious hooded man? Will he reveal his face? What's gonna happen? Find out on ze next chapter!

XxoxLightningXxox


	2. Afterfight

**A/N: **Hello! I'm back with the second chapter. This time I've brought a friend with me, who seems to be in a very good mood ^.^ Ladies and gentlemen, meet-

**PariahHomunculus: **No! %$# off! I'm not a people person!

**Lightning: **-.-... PariahHomunculus. She's one of my best friends in real life, and is one hell of an awesome evil genius and an excellent author. You should check out her stories sometime! So Pariah, who's your fave character in my fanfic so far?

**PariahHomunculus: **Probably the hooded guy, if he's going around beating the #!& out of terrorists A.K.A drunk perverts. Who exactly is he?

**Lightning: **Ah, but that is a secret, young grasshopper.

**PariahHomunculus: **WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A GRASSHOPPER, HUH? TELL MEH WHO ZE HOODED MAN IS OR I'LL TURN YOU INTO HORCRUX FOOD!

**Lightning: **O.O... fine. (Whispers to PariahHomunculus)

**PariahHomunculus: ^O3O^ **I KNOW WHO IT IS! READERS, THE MAN UNDER THE HOOD IS M-

**Lightning: ***Kicks Pariah out of the way* Wellllll... you've heard enough from me, readers. You shall find out who this man is hopefully in the next chapter if I'm being nice ^_^

Enjoy the next chapter! ._.;

**Hydranoid: XxoxLightningXxox does not own Bakugan! :D**

Xx3xX

Alice was startled by her surroundings as she lay lifeless in Julie's arms. She heard a crash, and the world rocked around her. She was blinded again, but she couldn't help shielding her eyes. She was suddenly deaf to every noise, and lost concentration of existance. Her world became cloudy, and her eyes sunk into deep pitch black.

'Alice?' Julie asked worriedly. 'Are you okay?'

Alice was mute, and rendered deaf to her surroundings. All she could see was the horrible blackness, and as much as she tried to get away from it, she failed to do so. There was no light holding her back.

'This has been a wonderful night, but I think I'll leave.' Mira said, looking in the direction of the bar. 'This is a joke. Come on, Julie, let's go.'

'Alice is unconscious.' Julie said quietly.

'What?' Runo asked loudly over the crashes and loud music.

'It's Alice. She... just closed her eyes, and her body went all limp. She's unconscious by the look of it.' Julie said slowly.

'Oh God,' Runo whimpered, bending down slightly to look at Alice's face. 'We should get her home. Things are getting too heavy here.'

She looked up. The hooded man was certainly winning the fight, and had dealt alot of possibly fatal damage to the drunk man and his equally drunk gang. Runo looked at the man who harrassed Alice, and could make out the plump, bright red swelling of his left eye, his possibly broken nose and the blood spilling from between his shredded lips. The man under the hood obviously possessed one hell of a punch.

Now the hooded man had the drunk by his shirt collar, and shoved him into the mirror behind the bar. Glass shattered, and Runo was sure the unlucky drunk's head was punctured with glass. Hopefully he had learnt his lesson by now.

The hooded man delievered a few more powerful blows, and by this time the drunk was almost sobbing.

'No more!' He cried. 'Jesus christ, dude, who the hell are you, Superman? You broke my damned nose with one touch! I'll clear off and leave you with your woman!'

'And if you ever go near her again, I'll break your neck and tear your fucking throat open. You got that?' The hooded man growled in a threatening voice, his grip tight on the drunk's shirt collar.

'I swear, man, please just let me go...' The drunk sobbed.

The hooded man tightened his grip, but sighed under his breath and let go. The drunk men cleared off rather quickly, leaving an almost destroyed bar in their wake. All was silent except for the loud droning of the music.

'I'm done here.' The hooded man snapped, his voice tinged with the slightest hint of satisfaction. He wiped the blood off of his knuckles and clenched his fists, then walked over to Terra. It was so quiet the sound of glass crunching underneath his heavy boots could be heard clearly. Suddenly, the bar manager's voice broke the eerie silence.

'That was an epic fight,' he said, cleaning the spilled tequila off of the bar. 'Thanks for that, mate, if you hadn't of stepped in and given that drunken lout a crack, there could have been serious problems. Thanks to you, that girl is safe. Speaking of her... is she doing okay?'

The hooded man walked towards Runo and her friends. He gently placed a hand on Alice's cheek and turned her head slightly. 'Out cold. She's not gonna remember what happened when she regains consciousness.'

'Will she be okay?' Dan asked, coming over.

The hooded man saw Dan and hesitated. 'Fine. Yeah, she's gonna be fine.'

Dan looked at the mysterious hooded man suspiciously. 'Have we met?'

'No.' The hooded man said quickly. He looked over at Terra. 'Terra, we're ditching this joint.'

'Wait.' Runo interrupted. 'We wanted to say thank you for saving Alice. If you hadn't-'

'I know.' The hooded man said sharply. 'It's nothing, alright? I'm not a fucking hero. Terra, let's go.'

'You should accept compliments when they're given to you, man.' Billy said, sitting next to Julie.

The hooded man looked at Billy and froze. He took one short step back, and looked at Terra. He flicked his head slightly, and Terra nodded back like it was some secret code.

'Well, thanks for rescuing Alice,' Julie said to the hooded man, while gently stroking Alice's hair. 'I hope she'll be okay...'

'It's called shock, kid. She'll pull through.' Terra said, rolling his eyes. 'Her legs will probably give way when she tries to stand up, and her whole body will feel like it's on fire. Just carry her back to her place, put her in bed and make sure she drinks nothing but water. It's really that simple.'

'Probably won't be able to shut the hell up either.' The hooded man said.

While the hooded man was speaking, the darkness in Alice's eyes faded and she came back to her senses. She slowly blinked the light in, until her vision became clear and she could see her friends looking down at her. Julie shrieked so loudly it could have caused people to have a heart attack. Alice was lucky she didn't faint again.

'For fuck's sake, Billy,' Dan snapped. 'Put a muzzle on your bitch.'  
>'You should put one on yours,' Billy retorted. 'And teach her some manners.'<p>

'Can we please save this stupid argument for later?' Runo said quickly. She looked down at Alice and smiled. 'Hey, Al... how are you feeling?

Alice blinked, and breathed quietly. She slowly put her hand on her forehead. 'Excellent, thanks for asking. What happened?'

'Things just got a bit... rough.' Runo replied.

'Yeah, these drunk freaks were hanging around the bar and got a little... touchy-feely with you particulary... and that man saved you. He's like, some time of hero!' Julie blurted, pointing at the man under the hood who was awkwardly standing in the middle of the bar floor. He paused and glanced in Alice's direction.

'I'm no hero.' He said in a low, soft, but agitated tone. He turned slightly, showing a rather sexy tattoo of a chain wrapping around his bicep and forearm. It suited his extreme muscle tone. When he looked at Alice, she felt like she had been struck by lightning. A somehow... seductive, romantic, exciting lightning strike. Odd.

_Geez, he must be incredibly yummy, _Alice thought. _No! Get a hold of yourself, girl! He's probably in a relationship with some bimbo..._

***A/N: **What Alice doesn't realize is that she will probably turn out to be this "bimbo". XD*

Alice slapped herself mentally to clear the dirty thoughts floating in her innocent, sweet mind. She acted as if everyone had read her thoughts, and her face became hot. Luckily it was a little too dark for her friends to notice.

'I'm... just going to reapply my lipstick.' She said quickly, and slowly got up. She stumbled, but Runo supported her.

'I'll go with you, Al.' She said gently, and winked out of the corner of her eye. Alice knew her friend understood, and tugged her hand eagerly to get away from curious conversations. They teetered on their skyscraping high heels to the ladies', acting casually as if nothing had ever happened except for knocking back a few margaritas. It was clearly not a night to remember.

Some drunk woman had been sick in one of the sinks (unless it had been a perverting male) and had made a mess. Runo groaned in disgust and shoved a whole toilet roll worth of tissues over the mess.

'This is one thing I hate about public restrooms!' She complained. ' People drink their money and get wasted, then throw up somewhere that's not a toilet in a restroom! It's pathetic!'

Alice smiled wistfully and applied a glossier coat of lipstick. She fluffed her hair up slightly and turned to Runo. 'Do I look okay?'

'Why are you so worried?' Runo asked suspiciously. Then it clicked, and she grinned slyly. 'Trying to impress a certain mysterious guy, are we?'

'Why would I want to impress some guy who doesn't even show his face!' Alice cried, but her body language spoke for her.

'Guys love confidence, Alice.' Runo said, completely ignoring Alice's outburst. 'Maybe you could give him a lap dance... that always gets the men going.'

She laughed at Alice's expression. 'Your face, hun! Don't worry, I was joking. But lap dances come in handy when needed-'

'I think I've got enough lipstick.' Alice said quickly, avoiding the conversation. She looked at the mirror which was covered with smudges, and sighed. ' For some reason... I just don't feel... right like this. I feel too different. Like... I can't find the right word.'

''A skank? A slut? A mentally crazy slapper? Wait, I've got it. A whore. Is that the right word?'

'Good enough.' Alice said miserably. She forced a smile at her friend. ' You know, it's getting kinda late. We should split.'

' Kinda late? Alice, it's eleven thirty. That's not kinda late, it _is _late. But if you want to leave, that's fine. Just don't complain because you didn't score with the somehow hot gentleman under the hood.'

' I won't complain. Besides, he doesn't seem like much of a gentleman if he goes around smashing people's faces in.'

' Alice, he kicked the shit out of a drunk prick who harrassed you. If you ask me, that's pretty gentleman-ly.'

' Can we drop the conversation?' Alice asked, pushing her hair together and pinning it up. ' This has been great, but I think we should really get going.'

' I'm not leaving.' Runo said grumpily. ' Not until that guy accepts those compliments we kindly threw at him. He saved you from becoming a bogan hooker.'

' A _what_?'

' A bogan. It's an Australian word for a person who's at a working class level or is a complete lowlife. I got the word from Julie.'

' Runo,' Alice whined. ' Can we just get out of here?'

Runo sighed in exasperation. ' Alright, fine. Get your shit together, take a piss if you need to. We're leaving.'

Alice did as she was told. It didn't take her long to "get her shit together", so at least she didn't make Runo even angrier. She managed to make it out of the ladies' herself without

tripping on her high heels. She imagined what would happen if she did fall over. Her skirt would fly up and she'd probably break a heel. _Not _a picture she wanted to imagine.

Luckily the hooded man was still there. Even though she couldn't see his face, he looked tense and agitated, just from his body language. He wanted to leave as well, so Alice knew how he felt.

He heard Alice approach her friends, but his eyes averted to the door rather than her. Her heart sunk, but she forced a smile.

' Thanks... for your help.' She said shyly to him, her eyes in the direction of the floor rather than him.

There was about a five second pause before he looked up slightly at the young, beautiful red-headed woman.

' Hmmph.' Was his response. So this was what Runo called gentleman-ly? Pathetic.

' Well, I better get going.' Alice said after a short hesitation.

' Take care.' Said the mysterious stranger with a rather I-couldn't-care-less tone.

' I will. Hopefully I will see you around?' Alice asked, looking up at the stranger, waiting for him to backfire with a stupid response.

However, the stranger looked up at her and just smirked. She looked up enough to see that mocking little smile and a glint of blue. She frowned and tried to get a closer look, but he looked away. Shit. She could have almost seen his eyes if she looked up a little sooner. Damn it all to hell.

' Let's hit the road, guys.' Runo said, pulling on her black cardigan. She looked at the hooded man. ' I'll say this one last time and if you deny it, I'll kick your balls off. Thank you for saving Alice.'

The stranger just grunted under his breath. He looked at the door, and walked out carelessly.

' Well that went pretty well, don't you think?' Dan said in a sarcastic tone.

' Wonderful.' Shun mumbled. He looked at the digital clock and his eyebrows ascended to his hairline. ' I'm out. I'd stay longer, but I have a tournament tommmorow.'

' And I have an appointment with a bitch who's been asking to get her ass kicked for a few months.' Billy added. He looked at Dan. ' We're leaving. So if you're staying, you're walking.'

' Then I'm coming.' Dan said quickly. He looked at the girls. ' Looks like we'll be seeing you pussies tommorow?'

Runo gave him the finger.

' Ooh, fiesty,' Dan said, laughing. ' Watch it, you cunning little bitch, and piss off or I'll spank your ass.'

' Go home, little boy,' Runo said, blushing furiously. 'You'll be lucky if I don't get the taxi driver to run you over.'

'You're all talk.' Dan scoffed, but he backed down a little. Runo gave him a glare and dug her phone out of her bag. She called the taxi, then after the call, she paid for the extra drinks. She looked at her friends. ' Let's get out of here. My feet are already hurting.'

' Now who's the drama queen?' Julie asked, grinning at Mira.

Xx3xX

It rained from midnight onwards. Alice didn't go to bed, although her eyes were red and sore. She sat by the windowsill, eating ice-cream straight out of the tub, looking at the views of America, imagining she was in Russia with her beloved grandfather. It was tough to think about it, and eating freezing ice-cream didn't help either. Guilty pleasures would do that to an average almost twenty-one year old woman.

Her mouth felt numb and her stomach was churning by the time she'd finished the tub. She held it down, and concentrated on the glittering lights of the high-rises. She closed her eyes for a minute, and the mysterious hooded stranger was the first image she pictured in her mind. She shook it away, but it kept coming back. She blinked. Why was she feeling like this? How could she feel so... infatuated... with a man she didn't know? Now that she thought about it, it seemed to feel like her heart stopped whenever she felt the man's concealed eyes set upon her. She was desperately in love with this stranger. She was sure of it. And she hoped that she could see him again.

' Alice?'

Alice looked up to see Runo standing by the staircase. Runo's eyebrows ascended to her hairline.

' Why are you up so late?' She ventured.

' Couldn't sleep.' Was Alice's short response.

' Well that figures.' Runo said, rolling her eyes. She sat down next to her friend. ' Are you alright? Are you... thinking about something?'

' Some_one_.' Alice corrected, hugging her knees to her chest and giving Runo a tired glance. She rubbed her eyes. ' Run... I don't know how to say this, but... what would you do... if you loved someone who you didn't, well, know?'

Runo caught on very quickly. ' Oh, for fuck's sake... Alice, what the hell have you gotten yourself into? You're telling me you've got the hots for that hooded guy? You've got to be kidding me.'

' Not nessecarily.'

' Well, I'd get over it.' Runo said, grabbing the ice cream tub and getting up. ' It's probably just some stupid schoolgirl crush. Now get your ass to bed before you have a seizure from lack of sleep or something.'

She stormed into the kitchen. Alice looked out of the window up at the sky to watch the stars. She smiled in contentment, wondering if Runo was really right. She'd never forgive herself if it was the real thing.

Xx3xX

**A/N:**

**PariahHomunculus: ***Snort*

**Lightning: WHAT!**

**PariahHomunculus: **Oh, nothing, nothing... *cough;LAME!*

**Lightning: ***Punches* Hehe... nevermind her. Sorry if this chap's been so late, readers! Please remember that I love every single one of you except for Bron- I mean- Pariah! It's just that I've moved from NZ to Australia and I had to wait a week for the internet on top of dealing with my new school... hopefully the next chapter should be on Masky... if Pariah's nice.

**PariahHomunculus: **Yay...

**Masquerade: **Finally! I was counting the days until christmas and the amount of snails that went past while Lightning was writing this chapter. IT'S ABOUT TIME, YOU STUPID-

**Lightning: ***Kicks* I've almost had enough of this guy... your past has just become more tragic, so take that, Masky! :D

**PariahHomunculus: **Lightning's in a very good mood right now -.- stay tuned for the next chapter... if you dare to piss her off even more :)

**Hydranoid randomly pops up: **What will happen in the next chapter? Will Alice meet this stranger and find his true identity, or will you just easily figure it out in his little story? And can someone please reference Lightning to put me in the story a little more-

**Lightning: **That's all for now, folks ^_^

Xx3xX


	3. A Look On The Past

A/N:

To all of my readers I am SO sorry that I'm late with this chapter! I was grounded for a week (counts) and it's still on-going. -.- I hope you're not angry with me! But here it finally is... PLEASE REMEMBER I LOVE EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU EXCEPT FOR PARIAHHOMUNCULUS! :3 Xx

Lightning: *Evil voice* I have returned... with the THIRD CHAPTER!

PariahHomunculus: *Snigger* about time...

Lightning: *Glare...* Churr, peeps, I thought I'd bring my cousin Sam along but unfortunately she's erm... *cough*... having a little private time with Pitbull and Awa from Nesian Mystik. A little two on one time. Lol. * Hears thumping * O_O things are getting a little hot, and you can feel the heat from where I'm sitting. So I'd better get on with the chapter.

Awa: Oh yeah, talk dirty to me!

Sam: Say please, mommy!

Pitbull: I'm getting some first!

Lightning: ...

PariahHomunculus: ...

Masquerade: ... Jesus Christ... I wish I were Pitbull right now ._.

Lightning and PariahHomunculus: *KICKS* There shall be no sexual stuff in the A/N, thank you very much!

Sam: Oh, yeah, that's the spot!

Pitbull: Give me everything tonight!

Awa: Kiss me till the sun goes down!

Sam: HOW CAN THE BOTH OF YOU FIT AT THE SAME TIME?

Lightning: -.- that's... enough for now... on with the chapter... please note it's about the mysterious hooded stranger! :D I shouldn't need to do the disclaimer anymore since I've done it in the past chapters. Enjoy ze chapter!

Or PariahHomunculus shall go Charlie Sheen on you.

Xx3xX

Ticking like a time bomb, drinking till the night's gone

Well get your hands off of this glass, last call my ass

Well no chain, no lock, and this train won't stop

We got no fear, no doubt, all in balls out

We're going off tonight

To kick out every light

Take anything we want

Drink everything in sight

We're going till the world stops turning

While we burn it to the ground tonight

- Burn it to the ground- Nickelback

Xx3xX

11:45, an unknown realm, kingdom to the Dark Lords and his highness, the Dark Overlord himself.

... Dark Haven. A world only authorized to the Dark Beings, located in the isolated Bakugan Valley within Australia. Intruders shall suffer consequences and will fall to the feet of the Dark Overlord. All hail King #$%*^%error-error%$!

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed the corridors of the Cimmerian Dynasty. The Cimmerian Dynasty was the sanctuary of the Dark Haven council, which consisted of lords of mostly the male sex. A baron and a governor stood in high ranks, but the supreme ruler, the superior of the Dark Haven Realm, the absolute being, the immortial deity... he was the man who sat on the throne, the man who ruled the council and all of Dark Haven itself. The Dark Overlord himself.

The King of Dark Haven.

*The King is a born god, a full blooded king. He is born into this monarchy, the man destined to rule this unbroken world. He shows no mercy and no defeat in any situation. A legendary man to worship.

But the kid is stupid. A careless, reckless moron with ridiculous hair and no respect for the damned world. He may be a king, but he never acts like one.

Speaking of the cretin, where the hell is he! Bloody kid...*

'Silence!'

The members of the Dark Haven council hushed obediently as Lord Aitheis Farron entered the room. He was the third in command dictator for whenever the king was absent. Which was basically, to the point, all the time.

Neither did Lord Farron show mercy. He was a bit of a jerk, really, and that never helped the council. He wore platnium armour from neck to toe, and occasionally when he really felt like pushing the limit, he would wear a helm that almost disgraced the king's ancestry, who were the Dark Gods. The man was almost insane. No wonder he was single.

'Where's the boy?' Farron's loud, surly voice echoed in the silent room.

'My lord, it is disrespectful to refer to his godship as a boy. He is certainly a full-grown, strong-willed gentleman. Even in your authority, it is a derision, an insult, to vilify such a legendary supreme being, the king of kings... as just a mere boy. You should be ashamed.' A council member, Vladimir Scythan replied in a disgusted tone.

'I understand your statement, sir Scythan, but since I have more power than every single one of you sitting in this very room, I have the right to declare his Highness as whatever I wish. But if the headstrong, irritating brat were amongst us right now, I would not have such ascendency. So unless any of you would appreciate a vexatious termination, I suggest you keep our little conversation a secret and do not utter even a word about it to his inestimable Eminence or his father. Do I make myself crystal clear?' Farron retorted in a fearless, threatening voice. 'The bastard is nothing but a sly, streetwise little imbecile. He doesn't care for this world, his legendary heritage, any of his great ancestors. His parents are the ones who should be ashamed. Speaking of his parents, where on earth is his father? That man is as useless as his cretin of a son-'

And that was when the previous king, Lord Eric Raiden, entered. Every member of the council excluding Farron dropped to one knee, bowed their heads respectively and pressed a fist to the floor. Raiden's dark, concealed eyes glowed with luminescence as they wandered around the council. His lips were clenched together and his brows furrowed in an expression of stress. His glare set upon the rather cowardly Farron.

'My son,' Raiden's deep, charming, eloquent voice was laced with venom. 'Where the hell is he?'

'Absent, as always, your Highness.' Farron said mischeviously with a small, cunning smile. But that smile was dropped when Lord Raiden grabbed him in a strong, deadly chokehold and lifted him off of his feet. He resisted the urge to gasp for air.

'A comment needn't to be made, Farron.' Raiden growled, tightening his grip. 'May I remind you that I am a high-ranking Necromancer and I am very well trained in the Dark Arts along with my son who you mistakengly insulted. If I hear another dumbfounded remark from particulary you, I will not hesitate to annihilate you. I hope you understand exactly every word of my threat, because if I have to repeat it, I will make you remember by physically harming you.'

Because even the strongest people feared Lord Eric Raiden when he was angered, Farron backed down. 'I understand, my lord. Would you be so kind as to put me down?'

'You have been warned.' Raiden snapped, but he loosened his grip and Farron fell to the ground. Embarrassed, he slowly got up. Raiden faced the council, and removed his black and purple symbollically shaped visor mask. His lavish dark eyes shined beautifully, and his immensely handsome face flushed with colour, bringing his lovely complexion. His long, silky golden locks fell about his shoulders, revealing him to be a youthful, handsome gentleman. It was a wonder why he wasn't married, but then again he remained hopelessly in love with his previous wife, who was also his son's mother. He had many women approach him with marriage proposals, but every one of them were turned down. He also claimed that he wanted to be a free man and fight his own battles, so that was two excuses.

'My,' a female member of the council said quietly. 'Only his majesty and Lord Raiden can ever possess such divinity. Their features are delicately sculpted by the gods... yes, royalty runs pure through their blood.'

Lord Raiden seemed to hear the woman and a small smile graced his lips, but he did not reply. He gave Farron a serious glare. 'I've been hearing rumours that you have been badmouthing my child. So if you have a problem, I think you should say it to my face.'

'No, my lord, I don't have any problems. I was just... discussing with the council the problem that he has been absent from every meeting. It's becoming a regular habit.' Farron replied quickly.

Lord Raiden's glare was fixiated upon Farron, but then his eyes glided away and he sighed deeply. 'I suppose he isn't ready to rule Dark Haven. But since the law of monarchy in Dark Haven is that every king begins their reign on their eighteenth birthday, he cannot pass on the throne. I hate to see him so stressed, but there is nothing I can do. And as a father, I have tried my best. It isn't pleasing to know I've dissapointed my own son.'

'He should have been prepared when he turned eighteen-'

'Shut up.' Raiden threatened, and Farron quickly shut his mouth. Raiden made sure he wasn't going to comment again, and continued. 'Your opinion wasn't needed again, Farron, so this is your last warning. If you need to say something, keep it to yourself. May I remind you that my son's mother died seventeen years ago, so I have raised him on my own since his teenage years. Believe me, not having a mother can... have a serious impact on one's upbringing.'

Farron nodded obediently. Raiden ignored him, and moved swiftly while surrounded in shadows to his throne and sat down. The shadows coiled around his armour and weaved neatly through his fingers, then collided and formed into his mask. He bowed his head and put it back on, then looked in Farron's direction. 'Continue.'

Farron cleared his throat. 'Right, where was I... ah, yes, discussing the matter of his majesty's whereabouts.'

Raiden sat comfortably on his throne, pondering while Farron droned on. He was a man who rarely showed his feelings, but he couldn't help displaying his worry for his son. He tapped his fingers on the arm rest, and sighed. This wasn't helping.

'Please don't dissapoint me, my son...' He said quietly, resting his head in his hands. 'Masquerade...'

*A/N: I hope you've figured out that Lord Raiden is Masquerade's father by now. This next part is Masky's P.O.V (yus!) and I hope you're prepared for a death of laughing. That's if you think the stuff he goes on about is funny. Oh and you'll learn about my version of his past.

NOW KEEP READING! :3*

Xx3xX

Masquerade's P.O.V:

Cold. Wet. Miserable. It'd been raining for three nights in a row now, probably because it was the wet season at the moment. With shitty weather like this, I usually felt kinda free. But for some reason this time I wanted to put a bullet between God's eyes for pissing on me. I believe in God, but I'm not a Christian. I'm not any religion, because I was never baptised. Thank... God. I'm not the type of guy anyone would want as a part of their religion.

It was already twenty to midnight. I sat on the rooftop of the tallest skyscraper in the city, for no apparent reason. I had a black headscarf tied around my head rambo style and a sirrated blade between my lips, so even I could say I looked like a serial killer. Or at least just a shady looking rebel.

My concealed eyes wandered over the dark, glittering lights of the dark metropolis. It was like a creepy, shadow-lurking replica of New York with more high-rises, skyscrapers and lights than you could imagine. But the people here aren't so friendly. You could turn your back for half a second and your woman would have been dragged down a dark alleyway unless she knew how to beat the shit out of a six foot hooded rapist with a switchknife. So infatuated morons obsessed with their bitches better keep them handcuffed to themselves. Dark Haven doesn't play nice, especially in the darkest parts. There's a city about seven hours from here called Disturbia, ironically, and downtown is where it gets seriously dangerous. Women living there are in danger of being stabbed, raped, or having their kids taken right out of their hands. But where I live in this city is just a place to watch your mouth in. My mate had his jaw broken for telling some guy there was a Huntsman on his back.

I was born in the south side of the metropolis, which is the more upper-class area. But still, all of the metropolis was like a realistic Sin City where you'd find big, muscular rebel guys with sunglasses, big guns, cigarettes and women in skimpy dresses hanging around them. I'm one of the guys who fits into that category, but I don't smoke and I can't stand being the center of attention with women. My old man almost beat the fact that smoking stunts your growth into my head. Besides, it's sick. I've had alot of beautiful women ask me out who reek of tobacco, so I turned every single one of them down. Any of them could have been the woman of my dreams, but smoking puts me off entirely although a few of my mates smoke. It's an exception.

Tonight was a lunar eclipse. Both solar and lunar eclipses usually happen about three or four times a year, so I'm used to it. I knew right now I was supposed to be talking random shit in the Cimmerian Dynasty with my old man, a prick of a dictator and a huge council who all literally drop to their knees whenever I walk into the room. That's because I'm the "legendary king of Dark Haven."

My dad's mom's side of my family goes through this huge line of kings and royalty and all that shit I can't be bothered going on about, but dad's a twin. He was first born and he and his sister were their mom's only children, so dad was next in line for the throne unless he died. You get the picture. When I was a kid, before... my life was turned around... my dad told me that when I turned eighteen, I was gonna be the king of Dark Haven. Because I was probably three or four you can imagine I was thinking it was just a game and I didn't know it was gonna be the real thing.

Since my parents thought Dark Haven wouldn't be the best place for my upbringing, they raised me in Brisbane for most of my childhood. Weirdly, Dark Haven is a part of Australia, so I'm an Australian citizen but I recently gained American citizenship after endless fucking processes. I'm a born and bred Australian, but because of my mom's American heritage and my association with Americans, I have the accent. My dad thought I'd always have the Australian accent, but he's usually wrong about that shit. So anyway, he and my mom were attracted to each other when they met, and ended up falling in love when... I really don't want to go on about how they met, so let's just cut to the chase. After three years of being married, my mom announced that she was pregnant with me. And she told her family and her mates at the wrong place and the wrong time. Because her abusive father was fuming about it.

He pulled her aside and put all this shit in her head, telling her she was a tramp, a lying, cheating little bitch, and threatened that if she didn't get rid of me, he'd kill me himself. According to my dad, my mom refused. So her dad hit her in the stomach, hoping to knock me dead. He didn't just hit her in the stomach, he fully assaulted her by hitting other parts of her body. She was screaming at him to leave the both of us alone, but he continued. My dad heard what was going on and kicked the door down, defended my mom and beat the shit out of her dad. When he'd got my distraught mother out of the hellhome, he took her back to their place. My mom wanted to escape, so she wanted to move to Australia because at the time they were living in the United States. Since my dad was born in Perth, it was fine for them to live in the country full-time. So they moved to Australia, and mom's recovery was slow so I was born by Caesarean-section. I was named Adam Joshua Raiden, and fuck do I hate my surname.

And that's just the beginning of my story.

I was a difficult kid to handle when I reached the crawling stage. My dad was always wary to let me explore the outdoors because I was a destructive little shit and it was the outdoors of Australia. You never know if a giant lizard is gonna come out and attack a defenseless young child. Mom was a compassionate woman, she loved to be outside with me and pull weeds or do laundry while I threw dirt everywhere and did a better job of exploring than fucking Dora ever did.

I lost my optimistic attitude when I turned five, after my mom died. I became a spoilt, chaotic, thick-headed little brat with a cruel and twisted mind within minutes. Everything in my eyes was darkness. I was like a heartless demon child, worse than your typical bad behaved toddler. That was the day when my life became hell.

Xx3xX

That day was one I hate to remember. My dad was out at the time sorting out issues in Dark Haven, and I was at home with my mom. That was a stupid idea, because he really should have stayed home. Mom sat in the lounge sewing, while I took control over toy cars and sent them crashing all over the place. We had three family dogs, dad's German Shepherd puppy named Cody, the most amazing Rottweiler named Braxton and mom's collie Samantha, but Braxton was chained up outside until dad got home. I was desperate to do something better anything to relieve me from boredom. Then I thought of something. My dad had given me a blue visor mask that covered my eyes and cheeks, and that mask was created by the Dark Gods for this particular chosen child who was going to rule. And that was me. I was the destined child chosen to wear it. It would also protect my identity for whenever that was needed, but I was told it was also a dangerous artifact, so my dad put it in his room somewhere where I couldn't find it. But I couldn't care less. What's wrong with just one glance at the damned thing?

Mom wasn't watching, so I walked unsteadily to my parent's room and managed to get the door open after a huge effort. I went through the drawers, the closet... give me a break, I was five years old. But I still couldn't find it. I finally looked under the bed, and found this black glass box. I pulled it out, picked the lock, and took out the mask out. It was incredible, a perfectly cut smooth visor mask made of either plastic or glass. It was a blue colour deeper than my eyes, and the part that held it on was a deep purple that was close to black. The mask had a dark aura surrounding it, but I didn't care if it was dangerous or not. I locked the box up and shoved it back under my parent's bed, then slowly put the mask on. I felt some sort of power through the mask, and it felt like it became a part of me.

'Mom!' I shouted, running out of the room to her. 'Do I look cool?'

She looked up, and hesitated. 'Adam, take that off right now! Where did you find it?'

'Um...' I tried thinking of a good lie. 'It was on the bed. I think dad left it there.'

Luckily, she ended up buying it. 'Oh, sweetie, I know it looks like a toy, but it's not. It's very precious, and it should be in a box. Come here.'

I did as I was told, and mom lifted me onto her lap and carefully unbuckled the strap. I remembered her long black hair falling forward like a curtain, and her feminine perfumed scent curling into my nose. She weaved her fingers through my wild hair, and sighed.

'You have such strange but beautiful hair, darling.' Mom said, putting the mask aside and letting my fringe settle over one eye. She pushed it back. 'But you're still such a handsome, cute little boy. You'll grow up to be beyond handsome.'

She raised her head slightly, a terrified expression coming to her face. 'Something doesn't feel right.'

She placed me on the ground, getting up quickly. 'Adam, honey, we're going to play hide and seek. You take the mask and hide somewhere where I can't find you.'

'But mom-'

'Hurry, sweetheart, your father should be home soon.' Mom said calmly, pressing her finger to her lips. I didn't know why she'd suddenly asked this, and I ran back into my parents' bedroom and hid under the darkness of their bed. I could see mom's high heels as she ran into the room and opened the drawer for something. As she exited, I saw the sleek, cold, shaped silver of a pistol in her hands, and was instantly terrified that she was going to kill me.

'Hide and stay there.' She said desperately, and I shrunk back further under the bed. I could hear my breathing and my heart slamming against my chest as the front door crashed open and men entered, yelling. Samantha immediately became protective and let out the most ruthless, loud barking she'd ever done, and my stomach lurched when I heard a loud gunshot and the barking ceasing within seconds. My mom slowly backed away towards the bedroom with every intent of protecting me. I could hear Braxton barking angrily outside, pissed at the fact that I was in danger. The three men came into view, tall, broad and loaded with guns, and mom raised the gun so quickly that I swear one of the men almost pissed himself.

'Now put down that gun, lil' darlin.' The tallest man patronized my mom in a thick German accent. 'Give us the boy and you might live and have enough time to save your doggy.'

Mom was trembling; I could practically see the fear rising off of her. 'No. D-don't you dare touch him. One more step and I'll fucking kill you.'

The shorter man threw back his head and roared with laughter, so similarly to a hyena. 'One pretty little flower with a pistol against three boys with big guns? You got a lot of nerve, babydoll.'

'Keep away from my son,' mom threatened, her voice like a gate holding back a flood of tears. 'Don't you dare touch him!'

The tallest man stuck a cigarette between his lips and didn't bother to light it. 'Let me take care of this, boys.'

He raised his shot-gun to his shoulder, and narrowed his eyes. Mom's hand didn't falter- she had no reason to back down. I wanted to save her, do something to protect her, but I couldn't. I was scared shitless beyond belief.

'ADAM!' She screamed.

The sound of the gunshot pierced the air, and my life flashed before my eyes. It replayed all in my mind again- my mom's body jerking after the gun went off, her body falling to the ground, her movements stopping altogether. Her lifeless eyes focused on me as the colour drained from her skin, and the gun fell from her hand in front of me. Her eyes continued to stare at me, and I watched in horror as blood soaked through her dress and ran along her arms. I was crying at that point- my mom had been killed in front of me, and I was about to join her.

They obviously found me and knocked me out cold, because when I woke up, I was on a chair in a room full of blank eyes staring at me and the three men were so close I could almost hear them breathe.

'Is that him?' Some other guy asked.

'Yeah, that's him alright.' The biggest one said in a rough voice. 'He's got the same appearance as the boss described him. Crazy blond hair spiking up all over the place, approximately three feet seven inches in height, sharp blue eyes- hey! What the hell is the kid holding?'

I was terrified. I wanted my parents, and I had no idea where I was.

'Where's my mom?' I asked stupidly.

'Poor, stupid kid.' He laughed. 'Your mama's dead, and you saw it all happen. You ain't got nothin' to save you now. You're a handful, kid, but you'll be pretty good on the battlefield. We'll put you in the first line of defence, and you'll never get found. Child military is illegal in this country, but not here in the valley. It's so isolated that nobody outside of it knows it exists. So over here people can beat the shit out of you and the government wont even know.'

The fluorescent lights were blinding me, so I put my head down. All I could concentrate on was the obnoxious palaver of kids similar to my age and older, and the fact that I was going to die.

'Oi, spiky. Keep your chin up, coz' you're gonna meet the boss.' One of the men who had me under restraint said suddenly. 'You're a fiesty little tyke... the boss is gonna like you. He'll put you with the big boys, no doubt.'

'Back already?' I heard a rough voice approach me. 'And who's this?'

'We found him, boss.' The big guy said proudly. 'He's the one.'

A man I wasn't bothering to look at knelt down in front of me. When he spoke, his breath smelt like a bad mix of beer and ash. I held my breath.

'Ah.' He said, his voice laced with venom. 'You're Adam, eh? You're the little shit I've been wanting in my team for a year now. I'm gonna train you up, put a gun in your hands and send you into the war. Sound fun?'

'How do you know my name?' I asked, my eyes wide in bemusement.

'I aint no stalker, kiddo, but I've been watching you for a while. You're the son of the legendary king Eric Raiden. Since Eric is one hell of a fighter, I figured you'd take after him. So you're probably gonna be one of my favourites, unless you disappoint me. And children who disappoint me get punished, capiche? Besides, your mom's old man called me up and was willing to sign you up here. I don't think he likes you very much.'

'He can't do that, can he?' One of the kidnappers asked. 'He doesn't have the authority.'

'Rules, authority, like I give a damn.' The man said. He stood up. 'No one really knows this place exists, so the government can't say shit. So welcome to reality, boy. You're gonna fit in nicely around here. Sheridan! Get your ass over here!'

I looked up enough to see a brown-skinned boy approach. He was a skin-head, with black hair and the most amazing eyes I'd ever seen. They were like a glowing grey or white. He was probably from Dark Haven.

'Sheridan, this is Adam. He's the new meat around here. So I want you to show the boy 'round, keep him company. And make sure he doesn't get his ass killed straight away. So he'll be your new roomie.' The man said to this boy who was obviously called "Sheridan".

I felt two calloused fingers under my chin, and they forced my head upwards to look directly at the man. He was pretty ugly too.

'Keep your chin up, mate.' He said, a sick grin plastered onto his face. 'It's a matter of life or death in this place. So make yourself welcome.'

I glanced at Sheridan, who had a sympathetic look on his face. He gestured at me to follow, so I pulled away from the grip of the strange men. I followed Sheridan down the hallway and into a room that looked like a prison cell. He sat on a bed with nothing but sheets.

'You're not from around here, are you?' He asked in a rich African-American accent that was mixed with something else I couldn't specify.

I nodded. 'My dad said I was born in Dark Haven.'

'I'm from Dark Haven too, but technically I'm American-Jamaican. My mom's Jamaican and my dad's African-American. Lived in Chicago for two years and then we decided to move over here with a family member. My parents left the house for two minutes and I was found by the boss.' Sheridan said. 'So I've been a child soldier for two and a half years now. I'm seven, so... yep, that's two and a half years. I'm in the first line of defence. And they don't drug you when you're in the first line, so you'll be alright. Just stick with me, Crusader and Kai. We'll back you up.'

Sheridan and I became mates with ease. He introduced me to his other friends, and there were probably about forty-something. I made friends with them easily, especially an Asian boy named Kai and another African-American boy they all called Crusader. I stuck with them and Sheridan mostly, and we became this group outside of the first line of defence. I became popular in a few months, so basically everyone liked me. That's how I earned the nickname "King". Because I was the biggest of the boys and I had the most outstanding kill rate by the end of the year.

I was trained to fight by professionals for a year, and I was the best along with Crusader. Since I was a fast learner, they put a gun in my hands when I turned five and sent me out into the battlefield. It wasn't the worst civil war to come, but it was a nightmare. Only few died in our unit, and luckily they weren't kids I knew as well. I killed sixteen people in that battle, and that was hell enough. I hated myself for everything I did, and yet I still never understood war. I was too young. My innocence was being destroyed the more bullets I fired. I saw people die everyday, not by my hands but others, and I was threatened with death everyday. I was in a disgusting, sick, twisted world.

From that day foward I was a killing machine. I was the biggest, the bravest and the strongest out of everyone in the camp, and I had the highest kill rate. I was a killer... a murderer... opposing soldiers knew who I was and threw their guns down in fear when I approached them on and outside of the battlefield. I was a rebel, a soldier on the front line who wanted to escape that... hell. And sooner or later, I was going to escape. I was homesick, I was scared... ripped away from a proper childhood. I hated it... I didn't want to kill, but all that kept me alive was hope I'd make it back to my dad. I was going to get out of there somehow.

My thirteenth birthday came pretty quickly. I was given a few new guns to add to my arsenal, three grenades, a serrated blade and a higher ranking. Each year was usually the same, except now I was regarded as a teenager. I looked like an assassin at thirteen, and I was usually irritated by swooning girls with ridiculous schoolgirl crushes. I wore a black bandana rambo style around my forehead, a long white coat with ripped sleeves, black cargo pants, a black tactical soldiers vest and heavy black boots. Occasionly I wore a ripped red scarf tied around my arm and long red gloves, but that was really when I was in a good mood. Or when I could just be bothered.

One particular day in that year, my life took a turn for the better- or worse. After a long day of training in a variety of martial arts, I changed into a blue non-sleeved shirt with a bullet-proof armour chestplate, basic dark violet coloured pants and my white coat. I was put on guard duty when it became dark, so I decided to keep watch from the roof. I sat there watching the stars for a few hours, until suddenly I saw a glowing red star, getting bigger and bigger. I climbed off of the roof to go and get another gun shell, but then the light hit me and I fell to the ground, darkness clouding my vision. This was obviously a nightmare.

But it wasn't. I woke up surrounded by a strange red mist in... the middle of no-where. My feet were just levitating on nothing but what seemed like mist, so I reached out to touch it. But I felt nothing. Where the hell was I?

'You! Human! How did you get in here!'

I looked around to see a huge white dragon approach me. I stepped away before it could knock me over.

'Answer me!' It shouted.

'I don't know.' I said, shrugging. 'I just got off of where I was sitting and boom- I'm struck by lightning or something and rendered unconcious. I seriously don't know how I got here. I just magically turned up. Hey, wait- I'm not in the campsite. Freedom...'

'What is your name?' The dragon asked.

'... Adam.' I replied, not at all suspicious that I was talking to a dragon- and the fact that it's mouth didn't move when it talked was even weirder.

'Well, Adam, you are in the Bakugan Realm, also known as Vestroia.'

'Hold up, I'm in the what?'

'Vestroia, cretin! Currently you are standing dead-centre at the root of the Infinity Core and the Silent Core. I am Naga, the ruler of all of the Bakugan. So you shall obey me or I will execute you. Understood?'

'What the hell is the Infinity Core? And the Silent Core?'

'They are opposing forces of energy that have different effects. The Infinity Core is positive, thus it can heal the sick and return the dead. The Silent Core is negative. It can kill people and cause mass destruction. Now, human, move aside. I have an appointment with that Infinity Core.'

'Wait,' I said quickly. 'Can you just let me out of here?'

'What is the good in it for me?' The dragon asked, turning.

'... I'll... join you and your bad guys. Whatever. Just get me away from here and the previous place.'

'Tempting.' Naga says slowly. 'Very well, now work under my orders. You will be a master at Bakugan, and since I see darkness amongst you, you shall go by the Darkus attribute. Be loyal to me and the Darkus name, child. Do not disappoint me.'

'What's Darkus?'

'It is the element, or shall I say attribute, of darkness in the subsistence of Bakugan. One of the strongest attributes along with Ventus and supposedly Subterra. And Bakugan itself are living creatures from a realm known as Vestroia, which you are standing in right now. I myself am I Bakugan, but I am the only Bakugan of my kind along with my twin sister Wavern. You see, long ago, before you were even born... a force known as Code Eve created the first Bakugan, Dharaknoid and Dragonoid, who were created from the genetics of a mysterious warrior. They seperated their realm into two different realities. One composed of the six attribute world Vestroia, the others Neathia and Gundalia. Another is a mystery, and it goes by the name of Dark Haven. Vestroia was ruled by the Dragonoid, Neathia and Gundalia by the Dharaknoid and Dark Haven is also a mystery. As time passed, more Bakugan emerged, losing their proper origin to legend. And also eventually, the Legendary Soldiers were created; Apollonir, Clayf, Exedra, Frosch, Lars Lion and Oberus.'

I wasn't really listening to anything he said. 'Great. So what the hell am I supposed to do?'

'You, child, shall work as my henchman. You will follow my every order. And before I teleport you back to Earth, I should give you these.' The dragon raised a claw, and a glowing ball of light appeared. It grew to the size of a balloon about to burst, then shattered. Two strange cards fell into my hands. One was just black and another has a strange looking skull on it. This just gets weirder and weirder.

'The plain card is a teleportation device, so you may teleport to wherever including here. The other card is the Doom Card, allowing you to send any Bakugan to the Doom Dimension if they... misbehave. And by the way, I would take another name if I were you.' If the dragon was able to move his mouth I'm sure would have been grinning sadistically. 'Now, I must deal with the Infinity Core.'

Naga began to glow in an array of colours. His claws clenched as the light became brighter, and parts of the armour on his body began to crack. I didn't know whether to move back or stay in the same spot, but I went with my first option when the light reached it's brightest. Naga looked like he was about to shatter into dust. He probably wasn't enjoying it very much.

Then I was blinded again, and on my knees. I was engulfed in this strange light, which felt like darkness. My head felt like it was on fire, like it was being torn apart with ease. The last thing I remembered in that moment was Naga shouting, 'no! Not the Silent Core! The Infinity Core will be- no!' And then everything went black. The next thing I knew... I was in a laboratory. Next to this green creature with a cape and a long, demented nose. I didn't feel like myself. I felt... different. Like I had two opposing personalities. Yeah, I felt very strange. Like a different person. I couldn't really remember anything. I didn't know myself anymore.

And that's when I discovered that I had been merged with a young Russian girl, which was the effect of the Silent Core.

I was trapped within her body, and she was trapped within mine. It seemed like my mask contained my power, because whenever she put it on, I finally emerged from what seemed like a shell and took over. I felt so strange. I just didn't know myself anymore. And people believed I wasn't real. Could things get any worse?

'You. Young man. Who are you?'

I looked at this green... goblin or something. The alter ego of the Russian girl's grandfather. I seriously wanted to punch the creature's face in just because he was so damned ugly. He or she. Shim. Hehe.

'Who are you?' The pest asked suspiciously.

'Not interested.' I said giving the creature an inauspicious glare.

'Do not back-chat me, child. What is your name?'

Why is it always some random creature asking me what my name is? 'None of your business. Who are you? What the hell do you want?'

'I suggest you tell me your name.' The creature said, but gave up. 'Very well. My name is Hal-G, and I am a Doom Being. As are you.'

'What's... a Doom Being?'

'A good question indeed. A Doom Being is, well... a being who has just come into existance. We were created by Naga after he absorbed the Silent Core. Which was actually seven minutes ago. We are artificial, really. Just a creation out of negative energy. We are not real.'

'I AM real, you dickwad! I'm not bloody artificial, I wasn't created by that lousy dragon! I was created after a man and a woman had sex and I was parturitated, alright? I am one hundred percent fucking full-blooded human, so shove this artificial shit up your green ass. My life was less than normal up until now, and now it is just fucked up! Now I have to share my personal space with some random bitch, not only that I'm TRAPPED inside of her! What the hell have I done wrong now! And have I even still got my machismo?' I awkwardly felt around between my legs, and sighed in relief. 'Oh, thank God... I'm still a guy...'

'You... certainly have a bad mouth.' Hal-G said slowly. 'You may be a normal human, but if people believe that you are, we could be in serious trouble and will end up failing our mission. So for now, you will work for Naga alongside me, and you will... pretend to be a Doom Being. Understood?'

'Nah, not really.' I said, distracted by the sight of... black cards falling from the sky like rain. I was instantly fascinated, so I raced outside into the shower of cards. Bewildered, I reached out and grabbed one as it swiftly fell towards me. I examined it curiously, and saw a dark purple symbol that looked rather like a skull on it. The cards obviously meant something.

A few more cards glided towards me, and I reached out and took them. I eyed these cards suspiciously, and my eyes widened as the cards transformed into small... black balls. One by one they popped open into different looking... things. They too were creatures. They must be the Bakugan that Naga was talking about.

'A human.' One said in a low, creepy voice. 'Let's kill him.'

'That won't be nessecary.' Another one said quickly. 'He may be of use. HEL-LO, HUMAN. WE ARE BA-KU-GAN. WE COME IN PEACE. TAKE US TO YOUR LEA-DER.'

'Shut up, Laserman, let the guy talk.' The creepy one said angrily. 'Greetings, human. I am Reaper, a legendary Darkus Bakugan. And you are?'

'I'm A-' I hesitated, and remembering what the retarded dragon had said, I tried to conjure a name. My real name bought back memories of my past. '... Masquerade.'

'Well, Masquerade, we are Bakugan. And since we seem to be fated partners, I shall join you.' Reaper said.

'Alright.' I said stupidly.

'Oh, my, Bakugan are falling from the sky.' Hal-G said sarcastically, approaching me. 'How delightful. I could... collect... most of these Bakugan and store them in a nice cool chamber. Experiment on them. What do you say, child?'

'His name is not "child", it is Masquerade.' Reaper said moronically.

'So that is your name. It is quite a unique one. Is that what your parents named you?' Hal-G droned.

'... yeah, what's it to you?' I lied.

'Now now, don't be so smart. I think it's perfectly normal name for a not-so-normal boy. Don't you worry, Masquerade, you'll be fine as long as you obey all of Naga's orders. I believe you are going to do great things. In time.'

Those words clung to me for a long time. I didn't do great things. Once Bakugan began to turn into a game, I started mastering it. I knew everything about Bakugan, and I became the highest ranking player. My personality also began to change. I just didn't know who I was anymore... I was cruel, ruthless, hostile... I was ashamed of myself. I couldn't live with my old name, so I took "Masquerade" and I've kept it ever since.

I rivalled against a boy named Dan Kuso until my last day that I was merged with the Russian girl for. I was sent on a one way trip into the Darkus Realm after falling from a retaliation from a creature Dan and I were battling. I spent a month in that realm... cold and independant. I'd been seperated from the girl, finally, and I was my old self again. But I'd lost my best Bakugan to her, my Guardian Bakugan, Hydranoid. But I can't recall how I ended up back in Australia. I ended up in Dark Haven, where I reunited with my father after he found me unconscious in the Cimmerian Dynasty halls. He was horrified at what happened to me, and went through five psychologists to pull me out of my emotional, dark state. Only the last one was able to help me forgive and forget, because he didn't believe I needed help. He said I only needed forgiveness.

To forget my past, my dad and I relocated to the United States. I'd already been primarily educated, so I was eligible for high school and I thrived through it. I had a lot of mates, and ended up being... popular. I couldn't care less about popularity, it was the fact that I was close to a lot of people. I began to move over my dark history, and take strength out of it. I became someone better, and the strength I gained from my past allowed me to forgive myself. I had my regrets, and I couldn't forgive myself for killing. But a majority of those people I killed... begged me to end their lives. I could only do what they wanted me to do.

Now that I'm twenty-two years old, I'm finally a full grown man. I live in a penthouse with a few of my friends in an upper-class skyrise of the Dark Metropolis. I'd finished a joint degree in Law and Fine Arts, then I spent a year in the Marine Corps. So now at the moment I work as a tattoo artist at what used to be my close friend's tattoo parlour until I can decide if I want to work in Law Enforcement or go back to university to do a Business degree. The tattoo parlour I work at is and was the best known in Dark Haven, since my mate Lily was the best tattoo artist around. I'd met her in the campsite aswell when I saved her from being raped. At first she'd use a black marker pen to do tattoos, but then she got into the real thing and got me interested. She was also the one who gave me the chain tattoo on my left arm, but the tribal tattoo on my right arm was done by another guy. How did Lily and my other friends escape that nightmare of war? I'll never know for sure. I guess it was a joint effort. But Lily led me to Crusader, who led me to Sheridan, and it goes on.

So I guess my life was normal. I worked as a tattoo artist (apparently a really good one), was advanced in boxing and jujitsu and I usually went out with my mates into the battlefields to get rid of gangsters and keep Dark Haven safe. Yeah, that's my interpretation of normal. Not.

Back to my present life. I was sitting on the skyscraper, being attacked by the rain. Really, it was my fault for deciding to sit somewhere so high up. I usually wasn't this stupid. Maybe it was that fucking hangover from last night.

**A/N: Readers, please forgive Masky's stupidity. And mine for putting such random crap in my story. Honestly, I was bored.**

I didn't really want to remember what happened last night. I'd used my teleporter card to go to New York and met up with one of my friends, and we went out to a nightclub for drinks. And then my night became chaotic, so I don't really wanna remember it.

'Oi, blondie.'

My thoughts were broken when I heard my friends approach- Crusader, Sheridan, Kai and Rico. They were the guys I lived with in the penthouse, and my closest friends. Sheridan and Crusader are probably my closest, since they were my first friends when I became a child soldier. Half of Crusader's face was blown up so now he has a half human half cyborg face, and a metal arm. Sheridan's the same as always... smoking, destroying stuff, getting laid and breaking in to any arsenal sector he can find. One bad habit that Sheridan has other than smoking is getting laid by various girls. He's got this way of charming even the bitchiest of women, and then he magically lures his target into bed. Crusader and I don't even have to try charming girls, it comes naturally. Women always follow us like fucking pedophiles. It's pretty ridiculous, and I'm not interested in that kind of thing. Sheridan's always open to the idea though.

I knew sooner or later my mates were gonna find me up here. They know where I'm most likely to be- in my sanctuary of shadows. In other words, anywhere that's dark, cold and quiet. And since I can be claustrophobic sometimes, I prefer open spaces. So my mates know where to find me.

I looked up as my friends walked towards me. They were wearing sunglasses and had rifles slung over their shoulders. I smirked at the fact that they didn't need sunglasses at night. Or whenever it was just dark.

'You pussies afraid of the dark or something?' I asked sarcastically, shaking my head. 'Grow some balls.'

'Hey, you've never had a reason to use yours, you little shit.' Sheridan said, grinning. 'You've never been laid before, so shove that up your ass.'

'I've gotten laid before, you fucking idiot. I've had several girlfriends, and you knew about it. You first had sex with some slut, and it wasn't intentional sex, was it?' I said, loading my guns.

'I'll buy you at least one-hundred dollars worth of beer if you get laid again.' Sheridan said.

'Done.'

'It's on.'

'Save this shit for later.' Crusader said, lightly pushing Sheridan out of the way. He grinned at me. 'King, we're going out to knock out a few gangsters and shit, then to a club or somethin' to get a few drinks. You in?'

'Do I have a choice...?' I asked slowly.

'Nah.' My friends said at the same time.

'Fine.' I slowly got up and loaded my guns. 'Where's the boys?'

'Waiting at the stadium.' Crusader added. 'There's been a gang of assholes harrassing people around the stadium, so that's where we're going. Sheridan's taking the tank, we're taking my car.'

Sheridan was practically glowing at that point.

'Alright, I'm in.' I said. 'But I'm not getting another fucking hangover tonight. I've got a flight to New York at six in the morning.'

'Since when have you become Mr. Proportional?' Kai laughed. 'And why bother when you can just teleport with that weird card? Honestly, King, you're over-reacting. So just loosen up a little and you'll be fine.'

'Yep.' Sheridan said, taking his rifle off of his shoulder. 'Relax, King. This will be fun.'

Xx3xX

** A/N: -.- I am aware that... that was just a random load of crap... not SO proportional... but c'mon, I was rushing! I guarantee the next chapter will be way better, and it will be the chapter where Alice finally meets the hooded man- without the hood. And about Masky going to New York on a plane... Sheridan, Kai and Crusader go along with him, because I am offically obsessed with my OC, (or whatever it is), Sheridan. I was drawing him up to look like a hot African-American guy, and when I'd finished, I was bloody MOUTHWATERING. I just have to put him in more! He's so adorable! AND HE'S MINE! MASKY IS MINE TOO! :D TAKE THAT, BRONWYN!

And he ends up developing a crush on Alice. Uh oh.

Anyway, back to the story! Not long to go until ze next chapter! I can't wait!

Oh, and if you're reading this, Jet, can you please ask Kd to update her Christmas story about Masky soon? I'll give you a cookie. :3

FREE COOKIES FOR EVERYONE! :D **

Xx3xX

We turned up at the stadium at around half-twelve. About a quarter of my mates- and that's about fourty or so of them- were waiting at the stadium in their vechiles. One of my Japanese friends, who we all called Samurai, was sitting on top of Rico's hummer, holding a crowbar. Rico was waiting by the barbed wire fence with wire cutters, and I rolled my eyes at how stupid he could be sometimes.

'You dickhead.' I shouted to him. 'You'll set off the alarms and shit if you cut the wire.'

He grinned. 'You got a better idea, eh?'

'Yep. I'll climb over.'

'You'll get some nasty bruises from the wire...' Samurai said slowly, getting off of the car roof.

'That ain't gonna stop me.' I said, grabbing hold of the fence. 'Besides, it's just sharp barbed wire, how much harm could that possibly cause?'

Rico and Samurai paled. Crusader and Sheridan just grinned.

'Yep, that's our king. Tougher than titanium and steel put together.' Crusader said, lightly hitting my shoulder.

I grinned at him, then looked over at one of my mates who was getting out of his car. 'Axle, where's my baby?'

'In the trunk.' Axle said, pointing a thumb back at his car. 'She's completely decked out now, man. Added some parts on, loaded her up... she's as heavy as all hell now.'

'Thanks, bro.' I said loudly, then looked at Crusader. 'Crusader, can you get my gun and throw it over the fence when I'm over?'

'If I can manage.' Crusader said slowly, but he went over to Axle's car anyway. He unlocked the trunk, then carefully lifted my massive rail gun rifle out with his metal arm. Complaining about the weight, he dragged my gun back to the fence. Sheridan pushed my foot up, and I started climbing up the fence. I got over scratching my arm in the process, then easily dropped to the ground. Crusader threw my rail gun over the fence, and I caught it easily with one hand. My gun weighed roughly a few tons or something, but only Crusader and I could lift it. Crusader had to put in alot of effort, but I could be as lazy as I wanted to. It just wasn't heavy for me.

'You like the work, King?' Axle asked from the other side of the fence.

'I fucking love it.' I said, running my hand down the smooth, sleek shafts of my rail gun. 'Thanks, Ax. You've done an awesome job.'

'Not a problem.'

'King.' Crusader interrupted. 'Can you see anyone over there?'

I activated the search light on my gun. 'Nah, not really, man... no, wait. I can see a light under the bleachers. And a stealthy looking guy in black out on the field. Three of them. Yeah, we've got a few gangs around here. Should be about... fifteen guys if you looked around the bleachers.'

'Then we're going in.' Sheridan said, grabbing hold of the fence. 'Not letting go of this fight. Crusader, give me a boost.'

Crusader pushed at Sheridan's feet, and Sheridan climbed over the fence to join me. He looked at Crusader. 'Alright, here's the run-down. Me, you, King, Thunder, Kahn and Samurai will go in and take out a few gangsters, then lure them over here. The others will keep watch and strike when the time is right. Sound like a plan?'

'I'll go with it.' Crusader said slowly.

'Great. 'Coz if we get this shit done, we can all get out for a few drinks then back home to watch the footy on King's flatscreen. So let's do this.'

Crusader climbed over the fence first, then Thunder, then Samurai, then Kahn. Sheridan pulled out his handgun and a pack of smokes. Thunder, Kahn and Samurai all took one, but Crusader and I refused. Sheridan just rolled his eyes and lit his own smoke.

'So have we got a plan for this?' Kahn asked in his thick Samoan accent.

'Not really. We'll just get in there and kick ass.' I said, loading my gun.

'Sounds fun. I'm definitely in.' Thunder said in his own British accent. 'King, since you're the boss, you should go first.'

'I'm always going first.' I said, laughing.

'That's right.' Sheridan said. 'So you go first, and Crusader will follow, then me.'

'Oh, boy.' I heard Crusader sigh as I walked into the field. 'Here he goes...'

'HEY, COCKSUCKERS!' I shouted to the guys standing by the goalposts. 'GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE AND FIGHT!'

They all looked up and saw me, then walked quickly towards me. I pointed my gun upwards and hammered the trigger back, sending an electromagnetic blast of kinetic energy into the night sky. One of the gangsters hesitated, and his pace slowed. The others just quickened their step. They were about five metres away from me when I heard heavy footsteps, and then Crusader ran in like an enraged bull. He rammed into the biggest of the gangsters, metal arm first, so obviously this unlucky guy went violently skidding across the grass. Sheridan came running at the second biggest like a freight train, his gun spitting bullets everywhere. He could have shot the man's arm off, but the strange man just manoeuvred in time to avoid a possible head shot, and then pulled out a blunt switchknive and an old Western revolver. Don't know why the hell he'd bring one of those things.

'Oh, come on!' Sheridan shouted. 'That's just... that's not fair, man! Not only have you got a gun, you've got a fucking switchkn- what the fuck!'

He dodged just in time when his opponent launched the switchknife in his direction. It was so close that it cut his shirt sleeve. The gangster was an unlucky guy... now he was in for it.

I wanted to watch Sheridan taking out his opponent, but I had to concentrate on the gangster running at me. I didn't see it coming in time and was thrown off balance, but I managed to swivel my gun from my position on the ground to aim at the gangster's arm. He was too confused to think about what was even going on- and then it was too late. I hammered back on the trigger and dark purple electricity shot transparent through the offender. Since he was too shocked to feel the excrutiating pain of his body becoming charred, he just stood there with eyes wide. When I released my grip on the trigger, the man began screaming like a siren. I swung the shafts of my gun at his torso, and it got him where a man would never want to be hit. He tripped over the gun, so I threw my gun aside, manoeuvered a perfect, advanced dodge roll, swept my gun into my arms and shifted it's weight to push myself up. As soon as I pushed the trigger back on my gun, I felt a sharp, burning, excrutitating pain in my left shoulder. It took me by surprise, so I hammered back a little too hard on the trigger, and my gun went off. I dropped my gun and clutched my shoulder, which was burning like an Australian bushfire. I swivelled my head in the direction of the gangster who shot me, and gave him a death glare that would have scared him shitless if I wasn't wearing my mask. My body language spoke for me, though, and I turned to a left angle of his direction, then ran at him like a speeding car. Before he could take notice, I pushed my feet against the ground and leapt above his head, my feet directed downwards. I slammed my heavy boots on his chest and into his neck, then launched my fist into his face. His ribs cracked under my feet and his nose and jaw broke from the impact of my fist.

Before he could scream, I grabbed his head and rammed my knee into his chin, knocking him out. I kicked the man's face backwards, then backflipped into my previous position on the ground.

'Semper fi.' I said, kneeling down and taking the gun from his hand. I got up, and threw it to Sheridan. 'Another one for your collection.'

Sheridan looked at the gangster sprawled on the grass. 'Jesus, man, you're brutal on the battlefield. The more you learn techniques and moves, the more vicious you get. I need skills like yours. You're incredible with this shit.'

I shrug and flick my head slightly to move my golden-blond, thick locks of hair out of my eyes. 'It comes naturally.'

He grins back, then side-steps as Crusader charges past into the last gang member. They collide with a heavy impact, and the gangster is sent flying into the bleachers. He crashes through it possibly damaging his head majorly, but it disturbs the lurking gangs under the bleachers. They all step out into the stadium lights, and my eyes wander over them. At least thirty-five. I grab my gun.

'Oh, hell.' Kahn breathes. 'We won't be able to take them on our own. U-faa...'

'We should get out of here.' Samurai says quickly, backing away and sheathing his katana.

We slowly walk backwards towards the fence, and the gangs follow. As soon as we reach the fence, the gang members are at least three metres away. Shit.

'Rico!' I said loudly enough. 'Cut the fence!'

'I thought you said I-'

'Just do it, man, we're ditching this joint!'

He sighs reluctantly, and cuts the fence. As soon as one piece of wire snaps, a loud alarm goes off. I grab the loose piece of wire and pull, completely tearing the fence off. We continue through the fence, and run back to our vechiles just as two black vans show up. Six guys in formal black suits step out. Damn. Probably security guards.

'Oh, great, they're onto us.' Crusader says angrily, unlocking his car door and getting in. 'Let's go, boys! We're getting out of here!'

Sheridan dives into the tank, then Kai gets in the back of Crusader's car. I climb onto the car roof, then Crusader puts the car into gear, slams his foot on the accelerator and the car jerks foward. I sit perfectly balanced on the car roof, looking back to see our mates following in their vechiles in fast pursuit. Sheridan's tank is alongside us, with the gun pointing backwards at the black vans.

'What's going on back there, King?' Crusader shouts over the loud sound of speeding cars.

'The cops are following us.' I reply. 'We're gonna have to get out of their sight.'

'Shoot at the roads around them so you don't get the boys. It'll stop them, so we can take different roads.'

I aim my gun at the road surrounding the black vans, and fire. The surrounding road explodes, throwing the vans off balance. A few of the tires burst on the vans, but two carry on. It turns into a high speed chase, and Crusader quickens the speed of the car. I repeat the process of shooting at the roads behind the vans, until we lose them. We take a few roads into the city, and make sure they won't follow. I grin as my mates cheer loudly.

'That was a fucking riot!' Axle shouts. 'We've gotta do that again tommorow.'

'Goin' back home with King tommorow morning.' Crusader points out. 'There's a pretty girl he wants to track down.'

'You're all talk.' I said, hanging over the car roof to look at Crusader through the window. He pretends to punch me, and I swing upwards and sit comfortably on the roof, my arms draped over my knees. 'I'm only going there because I feel like it. I've got a few tournaments anyway.'

'You and your bloody boxing.' Thunder says. 'Don't know how you could like it so much and be such a master at it. It seems like a waste of time. And seriously, King, you do wanna go to New York to find that girl. You were goin' on bout her last night when you got back.'

'Bullshit.'

'Liar.'

So he was right. I wanted to see that red-headed Russian girl I used to be connected with. Why wouldn't I be? She was extremely beautiful, downright sexy, and overall she was just amazing. I was attracted to her. I remembered everything about her from last night, from her sweet-smelling vanilla scented hair to the alluring perfume she was wearing. But I wasn't in love.

'King! Jeez, man, do I have to shoot you?' Sheridan suddenly shouts. 'We're going clubbing, man. You wanna come along or do you wanna stay stone cold sober for the flight?'

'I'll get a drink or something.' I reply. 'Just one though, okay?'

Huge understatement. I ended up getting three pint glasses of Jack Daniels, whisky and gin and a Heineken. I got pretty pissed in result, because I couldn't remember what happened last night when I woke up at twenty to four in the morning. I had a motherfucker of a hangover, and I was fucked off at the fact that I couldn't remember the results from the game last night and the numbers of those hot Kiwi women. Jesus Christ... I must have knocked back at least three litres of alcohol.

I went into the lounge in just my boxers, clutching my forehead. Crusader and Kai were already up. Kai was sitting on the bench holding a glass of white water, and Crusader was cooking. He wasn't showing any signs of a hangover, but it was obvious that Kai was drinking water with disprin or something. I sat on one of the barstools and rested my arms on the bench.

'Morning, King.' Kai says, filling another glass with water and putting it in front of me. 'How did you sleep?'

I moaned drastically in response.

'No wonder, man, you were as drunk as fuck.' Crusader says, looking over his shoulder at me. 'It's hard to tell when you're seriously pissed, but last night you were fucking intoxicated. You want breakfast?'

I shrugged and mumbled a few swearwords under my breath. My head was throbbing, and I couldn't be fucked saying anything.

'Man up, King, and speak English.'

'Whatever.' I managed to say. 'I'll get a coffee or something at the airport... I need caffiene.'

'The last thing you need is caffiene, mate.' Kai says, shaking his head and dropping a disprin into the glass of water next to me. 'Drink that.'

'Fuck off. That shit tastes foul.' I snapped.

'I'll force it down your throat if I have to. Yeah, it tastes foul, but it helps with hangovers. So shut up and drink it.' Crusader says angrily.

There's no point arguing with Crusader because he always wins. So I clumsily take the glass, hold my breath and drink the sickly sweet liquid. I get it down in five seconds, then take a breath and slam the glass on the bench so hard it almost breaks. My stomach lurches, and I clamp my mouth shut before I regurgitate.

'See, that wasn't so bad was it?' Kai says brightly.

I glare at him and stick my middle finger up at him.

'Cut that shit out.' Crusader says, rolling his eyes. 'If you don't perk up soon, King, you won't be able to get on that plane.'

He puts a plate of bacon and scrambled eggs in front of me, and a glass of orange juice. I mumble in acknowledgement, and he nods. He serves Kai next, then himself. He turns the oven off and sits down on the barstool next to me.

'Is this girl really that important to you?' He asks calmly.

I shrug my shoulders nonchalantly.

'So what's she like?' Kai ventures.

I pick up my fork and stab it at a piece of bacon. 'Amazing.'

'If she's that hot she's probably taken.' Kai points out.

'Don't get your hopes up, though.' Crusader says reassuringly.

I don't respond. I just sit there and eat in complete silence, and so do Kai and Crusader. Eventually Sheridan walks in, and looks at us.

'What is this, a chapel for the retarded saints or something?' He asks sarcastically.

Crusader mumbles angrily at him.

'I can't hear you, you'll have to speak louder. Wait, you can't talk, you're a mute.' Sheridan jokes.

Crusader aims his knife directly to between Sheridan's legs. Sheridan puts his hands together like a nun and side-steps to avoid the knife from hitting him. Crusader points at the oven, and mumbles what could be 'serve yourself', then continues eating with just his fork.

'Not hungry.' Sheridan replies, getting his bottle of orange vitamin water out of the fridge. He looks at me and Crusader. 'So, you boys packed up and ready to go?'

'Yep.' Crusader says after swallowing.

'Probably.' I reply carelessly. I finish eating then push my plate aside. 'Thanks, Crusader. So how long have we got?'

Sheridan looks at the digital clock on the oven. 'We're heading off at quarter past five, so... fourty minutes.'

'Fuck.' I say angrily. 'Alright, then I'd better check if I am ready, then I'm gonna take a shower.'

Luckily I packed the night I got back from that nightclub. The only shit left that I was gonna pack was my smaller stuff like my hygiene shit and whatever else. So I just went off to have a shower.

As soon as the hot, heavy pressure of the water hit me, I felt rejuvinated. It's like my hangover was easily washed away along with the sweat. I wasn't tired like before, so I'd be fine for the flight. Thank God.

I had a short five minute shower, then dried off and tied my towel around my waist. I went back to my room and got dressed into black jeans, a green American Fighter shirt and a white Tapout hoodie. I combed my hair back, pulled on my green Vans, put my necklaces on and lastly my mask. After throwing more shit into my suitcase and packing my boxing gloves, I glanced at the bedside digital clock. It's only gone five. Record time.

I dragged my suitcase out into the lounge to put with the others. It was fucking hard to close because I'd almost over-packed it. Sheridan would have over-packed his if he'd brought his whole arsenal- but that was obviously illegal in Australia and pretty much every other country in the world. He wants me to use my DT to get his guns, but really I can't be fucked getting my own. Wait, was I really sure about that?

'Ready, King?' Crusader asked, crossing his arms.

'Yeah.' I said, sighing. 'Let's do this.'

Xx3xX

Lightning: Okay so that was quite weird. But don't blame me! I was rushing. Sorry again readers!

PariahHomunculus: Whatever.

Lightning: *STABS WITH WRAPPING PAPER* Nevermind her dumbfoundedness and her pessimistic attitude!

PariahHomunculus: Yay me...

Lightning: Stay tuned for the next chapter :D xx I LOVE YOU ALL!


	4. Period Pains and Attic Bedrooms

**OoXxOoxXoO**

**Lightning: **Hellooooooo readers! You know what time it is again! :D

**Tranquility's Chaos: **It's that time of the month where I beat the #*% out of you for caking me in the second chapter, thank you very much. By the way, everyone, it's Pariah! I just changed my name! :D

**Lightning: TT_TT ... I'M SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN SUCH A LONG TIME, READERS! I HAVE BEEN CAUGHT UP IN SCHOOL FOR AGES, AND I'VE JUST GOTTEN THE IDEA FOR THIS CHAPTER! IM SOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! IT'S BEEN YEARS! I LOVE YOU ALL, DESPITE THAT I PROBABLY DON'T HAVE ANY READERS ANYMORE ._.; BUT I PROMISE I'LL UPDATE MORE REGULARLY!**

**Tranquility's Chaos: **Sorry she's been so retardedly late, readers. I don't usually say sorry, but this time is an exception because my peasant of a Lady-In-Waiting Lightning has kept dawdling with important things such as chores, school and homework. So if you wouldn't mind I'd like to take the oppurtunity to take over her-

**Lightning: ._.; **now I don't think that's nessecary...

**Tranquility's Chaos:** ... I suppose not. After all it was your fourteenth birthday the last time you updated this story. Holy shizzle, it's almost been three years. And by the way, readers, this will be the last time I appear in any of Lightning's stories. It's a long story why.

**Lightning:** I didn't even get a cake. D:

**Tranquility's Chaos:** That reminds me. I have a present for you. Close your eyes! *Forces Lightning to close eyes*

...

**Tranny (Tranquility's Chaos): **Surprise!

**Frog (Lightning): **What did you just do? *Sees pen-name* -_-; oh, ha. Very funny.

**Tranny: **I knew you like frogs, so I changed our names! Ta da!

**Frog: **What does the name "Tranny" have to do with me?

**Tranny: **I suppose it's a cute shortened version of my own pen-name.

**Frog:** -.- you do know what "Tranny" means, right?

**Tranny:** ... Actually, I don't.

**Frog:** :3 then I suggest you don't learn about the meaning.

**Georgia** (Close real life English friend of Frog and Tranny): Hi, peeps!

**Tranny:** Surprise, Lightning! I invited Georgia along too!

**Frog: ***gulp* you do realise she hates frogs...

**Georgia:** *Sees Frog* O_o Kermit?

**Frog: **No, Georgia, wait-

**Georgia: **How do you know my name? *Pulls out machete* PREPARE TO DIE!

**Frog:** TT_TT I really need to get a life...

**Tranny:** Frog- I mean, Lightning- does not own Bakugan!

Xx3xX

_I'll never be the same_

_If we ever meet again_

_Won't let you get away,_

_If we ever meet again_

_This free fall's, got me so_

_Kiss me all night don't ever let me go _

_I'll never be the same_

_If we ever meet again_

If We Ever Meet Again- Timbaland ft. Katy Perry

Xx3xX

Alice had a long sleep-in that morning.

She burrowed underneath all the pillows on her bed and wrapped up in the thick duvet and her favourite mink blanket with her sweet pug Coco curled up beside her, despite that her room was warm. At around ten she woke up and found she couldn't go back to sleep, so she just lay there thinking about the mystery guy. He was so dreamy… and so masculine. She couldn't blame herself for thinking a few slightly dirty thoughts about him.

Just then the door opened, and she hid under the duvet. The blankets were suddenly pulled right off of her, and a pillow hit her in right in her big boobs before bouncing off a little annoyingly. Coco barked, startled by the sudden awakening.

'Morning, sleeping beauty,' Runo's loud voice said cheerfully. 'C'mon, rise and shine, we're going out for brunch then to a movie. My shout.'

'I just want to sleep.' Alice said, yawning. 'I'm starting my period, and it's giving me stomach pains. I also got no sleep last night.'

She wasn't being entirely truthful. She was also pissed off at Runo for being bitchy that night, and didn't want to talk to her right now.

'You're getting stomach pains because it's past ten in the morning and your stomach is empty.' Runo scoffed. 'You need something good in it. Oh, and Julie and Mira want to know if we're up for late-night shopping. They both tried calling you, but you were too busy snoozing your ass off.'

Alice threw a pillow at her friend. 'Get out and let me sleep, you heartless bitch.'

She wasn't usually this bitchy. Alice was a sweet, kind, gentle woman who loved everyone, but when she was awoken from a good sleep, she got nasty.

Runo raised an eyebrow. 'That's nice to say to your best buddy who's kindly offered to shout you to a movie. Guess I'll just go on my own then.'

'I can pay to get myself into a movie, Runo.' Alice snapped. 'I'm not broke or bad off. So leave me alone.'

'God, what's up your ass this morning?' Runo asked, crossing her arms. 'Look, Al, I've made a tempting offer, and it's a chance to get your mind off of last night. I hate seeing you staying up late depressing over some guy you don't know. So I don't give a fuck how bitchy you're being today, we're going into the city and having a girls day.'

'You're so persistant it's fatal.' Alice said, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. 'Okay okay, I'll go and take a shower then get ready, and we'll go. And by the way, your bra's showing.'

Runo poked her tounge at Alice. 'Get off your ass.'

Alice threw another deadly pillow at Runo's curled hair, and Runo just dodged it and skipped out of Alice's bedroom.

'I'll meet you downstairs in twenty minutes!' She called cheerily.

Alice sighed heavily and dragged herself out of bed, slightly hung over, and stumbled into her ensuite bathroom for a hot shower.

Her shower lasted about fifteen minutes since she couldn't be bothered for around seven, and the rest she dedicated to washing her hair with her favorite rose shampoo, shaving her legs again for the sake of it and washing her body with cherry scented shower gel. When she'd finally finished showering she quickly towelled herself dry, then got dressed into a cute blue and white striped bubble skirt, a white bustier top and floral Doc Martens.

She attempted to dry her hair with her hair dryer, then gave it a quick comb and stabbed her heart hoop earrings through her earlobes. Being a neat freak she made her bed competently, then grabbed her handbag and gave her pug a cuddle before she headed downstairs.

'Be a good girl while I'm gone, okay, Coco?' Alice told her pug, lifting her front paws and gently playing with them. She imitated a cute voice; 'yes, mommy, I will.'

Coco's eyes swivelled away for a moment, then back to Alice and she wagged her tail. Alice placed her dog down and patted her affectionately, then headed downstairs. Runo was waiting for her patiently, dressed in Alice's peach strapless romper which she'd begged to borrow. Alice was surprised Runo would fit it, as she was taller than Alice and had a wider waistline. But it looked pretty good on her. If Alice was amazingly knowledgeable at anything, it would be fashion, beauty, medicine and cooking.

'It took you long enough.' Runo sighed, turning to her friend. 'You do realise you're starting back at university soon for your final semester. You've got to be up earlier than that.'

She was right. Alice was doing her last semester of her final year of her Nursing and Midwifery degree. Along with that she was taking a course in Culinary Arts. She couldn't muck around when it came to getting to her courses on time.

'Well, I won't be going and having drinks before a course then, will I?' Alice retorted, smirking.

'No, but still, you're evil in the mornings.' Runo said, grinning. 'Alright, little Ms. Perfect, let's get going and find a cafe that's not this one.'

'I'm getting strawberry and chocolate chip pancakes, and no one can say shit about it.' Alice said.'It's about time I treat myself to something full of carbs after working hard at the gym all week.'

'I agree, but I'd have pancakes anyway. I know an awesome cafe that does the best pancakes ever, so we can check it out if you want.'

'Sounds tempting. Let's go.'

**Xx3xX**

The plane touched down in New York at around 12:00 a.m the next morning,

***A/N: I'm terrible at working out timezones. But it takes around twenty hours to travel from Perth to New York, and America is a day ahead compared to Australia. So Masky and his mates would have gotten to New York the same morning when Alice and Runo were heading out, but at this time Alice would be sleeping away. Lmao.***

and half of it was alright. Masquerade was hoping to catch a little sleep, but he happened to be sitting next to Sheridan, who blasted Reggae dubstep on his headphones. Crusader was asleep next to Kai, and Kai was behind him resting his feet on the back of Masquerade's chair, too caught up in watching a rugby match. The Wallabies were playing the All Blacks in southern Tasmania, and weren't doing too good at it. Even though Masquerade was a proud Aussie man, the loss of the game didn't concern him too much. He went for both sides, as crazy as it sounded. Half of the boys went for Australia, while the others went for New Zealand. So when most of his mates came over to watch one of the big matches, it usually turned out to be an all-out war. Masquerade and his mate Jeff once ended up throwing empty beer bottles at each other during the game- one bottle smacked against Jeff's shoulder and bruised it, and another bottle hit Masquerade in the mouth and cut his bottom lip. The bruise on Jeff's shoulder was joined by a bruise resembling a shoe mark on his backside shortly afterwards.

Crusader had then woken up, and Masquerade easily heard him arguing with Sheridan to turn his music down. Sheridan, being slightly arrogant and less likely to give in or give up, refused and put his earphones back in until Crusader reached over and tugged them out impatiently.

'Always comes back to bite you on the ass, doesn't it, Vaasiva?' Crusader scoffed, narrowing his eyes.

'Give 'em back, you big black cunt, or I'll hang your ass on my wall when we get back to Oz.' Sheridan said angrily.

'Not a chance, since you can't put a muzzle on your filthy mouth.' Crusader said, grinning. He looked over at Masquerade. 'Oi, King, I just thought of something. Isn't "Sheridan" a girl's name?'

'Shut your fucking mouth before I punch it in, dick.' Sheridan snapped, kicking the back of Crusader's chair.

'Hah... yeah, I'm pretty sure it's a chick's name.' Masquerade replied, smirking at the look on Sheridan's face.

'It's not my fucking fault I have a girl's name.' Sheridan retorted grumpily, crossing his arms. 'My parents thought I was a chick right through to when I was born, and they just thought "oh, what the fuck, we'll call her Sheridan." Then I was born and surprise, I had a dick. But the name stuck anyway.'

'Can you guys shut up?' Kai had asked impatiently. 'I'm trying to watch something and I can't with all your fucking yelling.'

Masquerade was grateful that the flight was now over. However, he and his mates had to make the freezing cold journey to the terminal. When they got off the plane, the cute flight attendant who came to talk to him several times throughout the flight, looked pretty disappointed.

'I hope you enjoyed your flight, sir.' She said, smiling and running her fingers through her hair.

'Yeah, it was pretty good.' Masquerade lied.

The flight attendant smiled flirtatiously at him, looked around in case anyone was listening, and lowered her voice to a whisper while handing him a small piece of paper. 'My name's Kim. Call me.'

Masquerade smirked. 'Maybe.'

He left the plane, with his friends following behind. It was pretty cold compared to Australia, but they'd get used to it eventually. The plane was seriously loud, so Masquerade was looking forward to getting away from it. He started walking to the terminal without waiting for his mates to catch up, and begun the journey to the terminal.

There were several long corridors with floor-level escalators for seemingly disabled people or people who couldn't be bothered walking the distance, and one of these people were Sheridan. He also liked showing off on these types of escalators, which his mates never paid attention to. Masquerade forged ahead with Crusader, and they eventually reached the International terminal. Girls were staring at the four men as if they were gods who had dropped out of the sky, and several guys were staring at them enviously while also taken aback by Masquerade's hair.

Masquerade looked around for his friend, and spotted her walking towards the waiting area with a coffee in hand. She saw them and smirked, and Masquerade headed towards her with his friends in tow.

'Hello, handsome.' She said to Masquerade when he neared. 'Haven't seen you in a while.'

'Hey, Lily.' Masquerade replied. 'How long's it been again?'

'Three years, you asshole.' Lily said, grinning and pulling Masquerade in for a hug. They embraced for a good moment, and pulled apart when Kai cleared his throat.

'Alright, we'd better get your shit and get out of this place.' Lily sighed, looking over to the luggage carousels. 'I'm dying for a smoke and you bastards aint gonna keep me waiting.'

**Xx3xX**

'So what's been happening Down Under since I've been gone?' Lily asked as she drove along the motorway to her house in New York.

'Nothing that interesting.' Masquerade said, running his fingers through his hair. 'I've finished my Law Enforcement degree, but I haven't been looking for a career yet. I'm still working on and off as a tattooist, but since you left it hasn't been as fun.'

Lily reached into her bag and rummaged around, then pulled out a cigarette. 'Yeah... it wasn't going well back in Australia. Don't know if I can say the same here... I mean, business is good and I'm getting a lot of customers, but I'm on a tight Visa. Money doesn't exactly grow on trees.'

'Bullshit. Your business was going great back home.'

'Maybe it was,' Lily replied, lighting her smoke. She took a drag, and breathed out a pungent cloud. 'But I needed a little more excitement. You've got a citizenship here, why don't you move to NYC?'

'I've been thinking about it,' Masquerade admitted, 'but New York's not really all that. Somewhere like Miami or Los Angeles sounds better, that's where everything happens.'

'I'd go for Vegas.' Sheridan interrupted. 'Lots of strip clubs there.'

'Still the same old Sheridan, eh?' Lily asked, shaking her head. She smiled at Masquerade. 'You've changed a little, King. You haven't settled on the working out from what I can see, you're one hell of a hot, sexy bastard and you've hardened up a little more.'

'We all know that's shit.' Kai said, laughing. 'Masquerade's a nice guy. He's always making sure everyone's safe. The other night at the pub, a girl was pretty tanked and was going to drive home. Masquerade wouldn't let her, so he called a cab for her and paid.'

'Aw, what a sweetheart.' Lily said, smiling. 'You've always been a big softie, Masquerade. So, have you found your soulmate yet?'

'Nah.' Masquerade said, crossing his arms. 'Shut up, Sheridan. I'm hoping I'll meet a girl here.'

'Careful what you wish for.' Lily said softly. 'You just might get it.'

She was looking at Masquerade as she said it with a hint of lust in her eyes. Lily was quite pretty, in a Gothic sort of way. Her hair was a deep blue at the base, with cyan streaks and mint coloured ends. She had a black septum and angel bites, and her make-up included deep red lipstick, purple eyeshadow, flicked black eyeliner and mascara. She had a rather flat chest, and a tattoo running along her collar bone and her left shoulder. Masquerade only saw Lily as a close friend though, or even like a younger sister, and that was how he wanted it to be. Friendship suited them, not a relationship.

'Alright, here we are.' Lily said, pulling into a driveway of a moderately big white two-storey house. She stopped the car, and turned the ignition off. 'Home sweet home. Watch it up the steps, guys, it's been raining.'

The boys did as they were told, and gathered their luggage before rather robotically following Lily up the steps to her house. She dug around in her bag for her keys, and unlocked the door once she'd found them. She pushed the front door open, and shrugged shyly. 'It's not much, but make yourselves at home.'

Her house wasn't as bad as she made it sound. Her living room was a mix of hobo chic and hippy, with purple and red sofas, a large flatscreen, a silver lava lamp and a pool table, and the kitchen was basic but had great lighting and deep purple curtains. Next to the staircase was a door leading to a small plain bathroom which they could just see into, and it had a modern glass combined shower and bath.

'That's the best fuckin' shower you'll ever use.' Lily said. 'Actually, it's probably not, but it's amazing anyway. It's pretty damn powerful. Now, follow me upstairs, gentlemen.'

She led them upstairs to a quaint bedroom with a comfortable looking bed made with an orange duvet, a bedside table with an orange lava lamp, a black dresser and various nessecary clutter.

'There's some sort of evil spirit that haunts this room,' Lily explained, 'so Sheridan's staying in it.'

'Are you fucking kidding me?' Sheridan asked, looking almost terrified.

'I'm dead serious.' Lily said darkly. 'The look on your face! I'm just kidding. But you're still staying in this one. Don't ask me why, because I have no idea.'

She showed Kai and Crusader to their rooms, then finally led Masquerade to the attic. There was a double mattress bed without a frame, a black duvet and crimson pillows, a sliding door wardrobe, two bean bags, a purple hammock, a small stereo, a chin-up bar and a tall black lamp. 'You said you always wanted a bedroom in an attic, so I thought you'd want to stay up here. Besides, you've got privacy if you need it and you can avoid Crusader's snoring.'

'Thanks, Lil.' Masquerade laughed. 'Where would I be without you?'

'You'd be fucked,' Lily replied jokingly, 'and you wouldn't have that tattoo. But if you did, it'd be a shittier chain done by some loser. And you don't need to thank me, Masquerade, it's me who should be thanking you. You saved my ass a few times, and without you I probaby wouldn't be here.'

She reached out a Henna inked hand and took his mask off revealing all of his handsome face and alluring topaz-aqua blue eyes, and kissed his cheek lightly. 'I'll leave you to get a few hours sleep, and when it hits at least ten we could head to the Coney Island boardwalk or something before Joe's party at nine p.m. So... have a good sleep. Oh, and by the way, there's another bathroom to the right of Kai's room.'

Lily climbed back down the ladder, leaving Masquerade alone. It was good that she knew when to leave him by himself, as at this moment, Masquerade wanted to get a few hours sleep without anyone else even in close proximity to him.

He set down his luggage, kicked off his shoes and collapsed on the bed. He was so fucking tired it wasn't funny, and if he could, he'd sleep for two days straight. But that probably wasn't going to happen judging by how many people there were that wanted to see him and catch up.

Yeah, it was probably going to be a short, pointless sleep.

**Xx3xX**

Alice and Runo met up with Julie and two of Alice and Julie's close friends, Angel and Elise, for brunch at a cute café, where they indulged on sweet, delicious food packed with calories and carbs, and delectable coffees. Alice decided against the pancakes and went with a fresh bagel with salmon and cream cheese, a moist slice of carrot cake smothered in cream cheese icing and a white chocolate latte, and Runo had blueberry pancakes and a caramel cappuccino. They all gossiped and giggled over their meals, and when finished, they headed out into a less bustling, spacious area of New York City to go through endless clothing stores and the massive shopping mall a few blocks away. But then, as Runo "lightly" put it, Julie had to ruin the fun.

'Sorry to be a bailer, girls, but I'm going out to Coney Island.' Julie said remorsefully. 'My friend Lily's there with her friends who have just arrived from Australia. So I'm gonna go meet them, because from what I've heard, they're pretty cute boys, and one of them is especially tasty. So I'll catch up with you all later. Love you!'

She quickly headed off, leaving her friends dithering. Runo looked pretty pissed off, so Alice stood a few feet from her.

'Fucking Julie,' Runo growled, 'she can't come with us for at least a few hours to go shopping, she always ends up needing to be somewhere else.'

'It's okay, Run.' Alice said, blinking. 'You know what she's like when it comes to men.'

Runo seemed to calm down a little, and smiled at Alice. 'I swear she has a radar that specialises in tracking attractive guys, and when she finds one, she's gone. But we're not going to let her stop us from having fun, so lets go on a little shopping spree. Obviously little, since I don't have a lot of cash on me.'

It lasted for at least two hours until Julie came practically racing towards them when they were in the middle of a beachwear shop. Alice had no idea how she found them, but then again she knew Alice's favourite shops.

'You'll... never... guess... what!' Julie panted, half bent over trying to catch her breath. She looked up at Alice and Angel, since Runo and Elise were in the changing rooms.

Angel raised an eyebrow. 'How far did you run, girl?'

'Two blocks!' Julie burst out. 'You'll never fucking guess who I just saw!'

'Okay, Jules, maybe you should take a few breaths.' Alice said gently, supporting her friend. 'Tell us what happened.'

'Lily... hot guys... one of them... M-m.' Julie stuttered. 'M-'

'Hey, guys, do you think this suits me?' Runo asked, stepping out of the changing room and showing off her tall, slender figure in a blue sarong and ruffle tankini. She noticed Julie literally keeling over, and looked surprised. 'Julie? What the hell are you doing?'

'I'm back, you bitch,' Julie gasped, trying not to laugh, 'so fucking deal with it.'

'No, I mean, why are you bent over like that?' Runo persisted.

'Because I ran for a few kilometres.' Julie blurted. 'Okay, so, I swear I was dreaming, but I saw-'

'Should I get this in a size smaller?' Elise interrupted, emerging from the changing room next to Runo in a pink bandeau swimsuit.

'Fuck it.' Julie muttered.

'No, it looks great.' Alice said honestly, turning her attention to Elise. 'Is it comfortable?'

'It's sorta tight, but I'll probably settle into it.' Elise admitted, swaying her hips slightly. 'Hey, Julie! Back so soon?'

'Mm-hm. Okay, so, Lily's friend is having a beach party tonight, and it's going to be awesome. She invited us to come, and it's at 9:00 p.m and obviously we've got to be in beach threads. There's going to be cute guys, booze, music and heavy bass, and the guys I met will be there. And Lily was right- there's one of them who's _so _fucking hot, and you'll never guess who it is.'

'Sounds fun.' Runo said before Julie could continue. 'I'm in. What about you, Alice?'

Alice didn't really want to go, but then again she wanted to see who Julie was talking about. 'Sure. I guess there's no harm in _another _party...'

Julie and Runo ignored her sarcasm and focused on Angel and Elise's responses, and they both agreed. Alice guessed she couldn't back out now.

'Great! Well, since we're in a beachwear store,' Julie said excitedly, spreading her arms out, 'we could get some new threads and you girls can get ready at my house. I'm dying to do your hair, Alice.'

Xx3xX

After the girls had finished shopping, they headed back to Julie's house and watched a few chick flicks to pass the time. Alice had to admit she was a little excited, whereas Julie was bursting with so much she almost exploded. She was sure she was going score with this "you'll never guess who it is" person, despite the fact that she was slightly into Billy.

'Who cares about Billy?' She said harshly. 'He's always too busy to go out anyway. I've found a man who is drop dead gorgeous, and we know him already. You guys are in for one hell of a shock.'

Usually when Julie said something like that, she meant that the guy had a snail trail or was from an exotic country. Which was hot, but still not... shocking.

When it got closer to the party, Julie went into party mode. She pulled on her new bikini in a matter of seconds, and ran around spastically pulling out beauty products while her friends took their time changing into their swimwear. Alice bought a sexy bikini with the american flag on it and matching bikini bottoms, and a seethrough tied blue top with white stars on it. Julie helped her decide on a bikini, and thought Alice looked incredibly sexy in American flag beachwear so she basically forced her to buy it.

When Alice had dressed into her bikini, Julie dragged her into the bathroom and straightened her hair, then styled it into a pretty quiff ponytail. Then she gave her a little mascara and light eyeliner, and applied a gloss to her lips. The others spent ages doing their make-up and hair, practically hogging the bathroom while Julie fumed.

Then it was time to leave. And that was a whole different story. Julie was so excited, Alice feared her ability to drive. But she seemed to drive sanely, and it was a fun journey. Barbie Girl was blasted twice, followed by other easily teaseable pop songs, and then the trip was over. Alice breathed in the salty air, relieved.

The atmosphere at the party was incredible. There was amazing music pumping in the distance, loads of people chatting and dancing in bikinis and boardshorts, and people swimming down in the ocean with drinks. Alice's friends looked pretty pumped.

'This looks seriously fucking amazeballs.' Runo said slowly.

'It's the tits.' Julie agreed. 'Joe throws the best parties ever.'

'Who's Joe?' Alice asked curiously.

'Oh, he's awesome. He's a big guy who smokes dope and parties whenever he feels like it. You guys will probably meet him later.' Julie said. She looked over in the direction of the ocean, and waved excitedly. 'Lily!'

A girl with fantastic blue and green hair and a ring in her nose approached them, dressed in a black bikini, and three men came with her. 'Hey, Julie! So glad you could make it! And who are these babes?'

Julie giggled, and gestured to her friends. 'This is Angel, Alice, Runo and Elise. They're my best friends. Guys, this is my friend Lily.'

'Hi.' They all responded awkwardly.

'Hiya!' Lily said, smiling and waving. She looked back at the men with her, then back at the girls. 'Oh, and these are my friends. Chris, Kai and Sheridan. My other friend's down the beach catching up with his mates.'

Chris was tall, broad and very dark-skinned, with fabulous eyes and a baritone voice. 'Call me Crusader. And you ladies look great, by the way.'

Sheridan was quite sexy. He was darkly tanned, muscular, and though he was a skinhead his hair was black and he had a light stubble. He was immediately drawn to Alice. 'And you are...?'

'... Alice.' Alice replied shyly, blinking.

'A pretty name for a pretty woman.' Sheridan said flirtatiously, eyeing Alice up and down. 'You know, baby, I've never seen a girl as beautiful as you. Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?'

A seriously cheesy pick-up line, but it sorta worked. Then again, Alice wasn't exactly interested. 'I didn't fall from heaven, I fell from my mother's vagina.'

Her friends laughed fondly, but instead of drawing Sheridan's attention away, it brought more upon Alice. 'Fiesty... you got a man, honey?'

'Maybe I do.' Alice retorted, blushing furiously.

Wrong answer. 'I'm guessing that means you don't. I know you just got here, angel, but how about we ditch this party and go somewhere a little more private?'

'I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in relationships right now.' Alice blurted, and sauntered down to the beach and to a quiet spot where she could be alone. She let her hair down, annoyed by the stupid ponytail, and sat on a large piece of driftwood. She had no idea why she was being so snarky and bitchy today, as she was always so lovely, angelic, gentle and innocent. Then again, Alice had a dark side, or as Runo put it, a menstrual side.

Alice was having mixed feelings. She didn't know if it was a good idea to come to the party anymore. In fact, she sort of regretted it. She was hoping to have a little fun with her girlfriends, not get followed by various guys wanting relationships or casual sex. Alice was sick of it, she was a strict virgin and she was staying that way until she met the right man, her soulmate. Who she was hoping she'd found last night.

She sat there for a little while longer, contemplating what to do. Sit on a piece of driftwood for the rest of the damned night, or party with her girlfriends? Either or, she was fucked.

She made the desicion to go back to her friends. If Sheridan got too close, Runo or Angel would tell him to back off. And he'd have to. It was that simple.

Alice walked back around and up the beach, walking along the wet sand as she went, frothy seawater washing over her toes. And then she stopped. Her eyes widened. Her hands flew to her mouth. No. Impossible.

'Oh... my... God...'

Xx3xX

Another chapter wrapped up my dearest readers! It took me long enough, didn't it? When I last updated, I was 13, and now I'm almost 16. I've matured in my writing skills, so I know how to make a character seem not so perfect. I gave up on this story for a while and my obsessions focused on Tekken and Invader Zim, and now I'm on another Bakugan kick. Seriously, I love Masquerade. Haters can fuck themselves, and that's probably what he'd say. Masquerade's a badass, sexy motherfucker, and he's had it pretty rough sharing a body with a girl. So in this story, he's amazing. He's not a male Mary Sue. He has his flaws, and you will eventually find them out. Actually, you've found out a few. He's had a real shit childhood, he's a pain in the ass to argue with, he hates so many girls going after him, and he's a terrible cook. Oh wait, you haven't found that out yet. Whoops.

Nor is Alice a special snowflake. Yeah, she's beautiful, talented, curvy in the right places and sexy, but she's an evil bitch when it's that time of the month, and she's a little deluded, focusing mainly on some random hooded guy she doesn't know. Let's see how he contributes towards her studies. Hehehe.

By the way, I yet again did up this chapter. Alice no longer has a puppy, she has a kitten instead. I see her as more of a cat person. Was there a purpose to saying this? Certainly not. I just wasted another valuable thirty seconds of my life.

So what do you think Alice is freaking out about? Did she see a sea monster or a mutant jellyfish, or witness Runo making out with, I don't know, Sheridan? I guess we'll find out in the next chapter. And it will come faster than three years. I can promise that. I'm really sorry.

Have a wonderful night/morning! I love you all :3 xx


	5. Clowns Are Creepy

Lightning's Retarded Quote:

"One does not simply _normalize_ Masquerade's hair."

LIGHTNINNNNGGG IS-A-BACK, BIATCHES!

With... the FIFTH chapter... wow. *Not.*

Oops I did it again. Another chappy. A little off the deadline I was aiming for, which was about a month or so back after I published my previous chapter. I'm confusing myself, so I should really stop. Here comes the smoulder.

*Pulls Flynn Rider pout.* I'm sorry for taking so long. School is still a pain in the ass. Don't forget I have a weird love for all of you, which probably consists of about three if I'm lucky. Sometimes I wonder why I updated... I don't think my readers would follow a story I dropped two years ago then miraculously revived. And I no longer live in Australia, I have returned to New Zealand.

Do you miss Pariah? I do too. Let's just say we don't get along like we used to and I'll leave it at that. It's a story more tragic than the Titanic. You'll cry your little doomed hearts out. Yeah, right. Let's get on to a happy note, for example cookies. I got a packet of cookies the other day which consisted of nine, yes, NINE cookies. That's not enough cookies, in fact, that's just _mean_. But then considering they were smothered in chocolate and delicious I could drop the issue for now. I ate these delicious cookies while watching "Donatello Gets Screwed" and "Squidward Gets Possessed by a Bad Lemon." Don't-a-tell-me I have a serious addiction to random discomforting humour.

Now slap that diaper on your face. Instant mask.

Donatello Gets Screwed. Watch it if you are wanting a healthy dose of crude humour, and if you do, tell me if you liked it. That way I'll know if the videos I'm watching are lame. I love Donny, though, so NOTHING AGAINST MUTANT TURTLES!

**Hydranoid:** It's time for the disclaimer, Lightning.

**Lightning:** No! I HATE DISCLAIMERS! THEY'RE DEPRESSING!

**Masquerade:** XxoxLightningxxoX doesn't own me or Bakugan, or any of the songs she pointlessly includes.

**Lightning:** GET OUT OF MY DISCLAIMER!

**Masquerade:** Just saying...

**Lightning:** FINE! I DON'T OWN BAKUGAN! HAPPY NOW? *sniffle*

Xx3xX

I stop and stare at you,

Walking on the shore

I try to concentrate,

My mind wants to explore

The tropical scent of you,

Takes me up above

And girl when I look at you,

Oh I fall in love

_Mysterious Girl- Peter Andre_

I think I could like you but I keep holding back,

Cause I can't seem to tell if you're fiction or fact

Show me you can laugh, show me you can cry

Show me who you really are deep down inside

_How To Touch a Girl- JoJo_

Xx3xX

"Oh... my... God..."

Alice couldn't believe what she was witnessing. She seriously thought Runo and Sheridan were making out. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, then realised it wasn't Runo or Sheridan, and that the girl's hair wasn't even blue. Thank God.

**A/N: HA! I tricked you.**

She turned to go back to the driftwood to clear her head again for another few minutes since she was probably having a mind fuck, but she bumped straight into someone tall, broad and heavy-set. She looked up, and froze. No, her mind _was_ clearly fucking with her, for standing in front of her was none other than Masquerade.

It was all clear that it was him. The same hair, the mask- wait, he wasn't wearing it. Unluckily, she could only register his eyes. They were blue and lusty, and he had an irresistable maturity. He was tall, muscular and intimidating, and since he was shirtless, she could clearly see bulging muscles and abs sculpted by gods. Alice seriously thought she had gone insane. An evil guy she was once... merged with, was now tanked. And she swore that tattoo around his arm was familiar...

'Sorry,' he said suddenly, stirring her thoughts. 'Didn't see you there.'

She stared at him for several seconds, his image blurring in front of her. Her eyes became weak, and she stepped back. It was only natural for Masquerade to look worried since Alice seemed like she was going to pass out, but she couldn't let him near her. Now was a time she thought of what Fabia would do.

'Watch it, you fucking wanker!' She snapped.

More than looking weirded out by her gesture, he looked concerned. 'Are you okay, or did I hurt you or something?'

'Just stay away from me!' Alice cried. 'You're not real!'

Masquerade stared at her, obviously not recognizing her, and she ran off. Great, now he thought she was insane. She felt so mean for saying all those things to him, but she needed to get away. He couldn't be real. It was impossible. She hoped she was still asleep and dreaming or something, because if she was going skitz at nothing but air with everyone watching her, she was screwed. But she felt terrible enough for being such a bitch, and she wanted to apologize so badly.

No. No turning back now. It was impossible that he was real. He was only an alter-ego that she hosted when she was younger. She must have been smoking dope or something if she was seeing a hallucination of a tall, mother-fucking mouthwateringly hot, attractive and seriously tank adult Masquerade. Minus the mask. Alice now knew she should definitely not have come to this party, and she needed her besterest buddies Fabia and Chiquita to give her a reality check.

Fabia was a good friend of who Dan called the "brawlers", one of Alice's best friends, and the queen of Neathia. She didn't give two shits, and she didn't like it. Fabia had changed a lot since she began visiting Earth, and she had begun to figure out her true place. She was partially human and she believed that she initially belonged on Earth rather than on some boring planet ruling over a bunch of purple lunatics, and she should be living it up at the age of twenty-one. At the moment she was in her home planet, but in a few days she'd be travelling to Los Angeles somehow and then flying straight to New York to see Alice.

As for Chiquita, she was another of Alice's best friends, and she was a beautiful Hawaiian girl. She was studying beauty therapy and spa training, and was a little caught up in studies to visit Alice at the moment. She was highly traditional when it came to her Hawaiian culture, but when she was with Alice and Fabia, the three of them forgot about tradition and were literally inseperable. However, Chiquita was just a little more responsible than Alice and Fabia.

Now Alice was really missing her friends. If they were here, Chiquita would be hugging her and calming her, while Fabia would bitch-slap her and tell her to go and kick that "fucking wanker" in the nuts. But of course, it was Runo, Angel and Elise who came after her. Not that she wasn't grateful or anything, but they weren't Chiquita and Fabia. At least Julie wasn't around to scream out Alice's problems to the world.

'Alice! Where the hell were you?' Runo asked, alarmed. 'We were just standing here talking to Lily and her friends and poof, you're gone. We've been looking for you. Is everything okay?'

Alice didn't feel like explaining right now. She felt faint, confused and shocked, and she wanted to collapse on her comfy bed and fall asleep. She blinked at Runo, and didn't bother to answer.

'Alice?' Runo was now asking, gently shaking Alice's shoulders. 'Alice, look at me. What's gotten into you? Have you taken something?'

'Home.' Alice murmured, shaking her head.

'What?'

'I have to go home.' Alice said quietly. 'Too much is going on, and... I'm tired. And I mean really tired.'

This was true too, but Runo did not look amused. 'Fine,' she sighed. 'Angel, can you take Alice back to Julie's place? Julie's offered for us to crash there tonight anyway, so it shouldn't be that much of a deal. Drop Alice off, then come straight back.'

She threw Julie's car keys to Angel. 'You should come back soon... I'm getting sorta tired too, and God only knows where Julie's at.'

Angel nodded, and helped Alice to Julie's car. 'C'mon, hun, let's get you to Julie's.'

Alice didn't protest. It wasn't a long trip back either, so she didn't have to protest about the music or the fact that it was a long way back. Because it wasn't. And the music wasn't played for a long enough duration to cause Alice to complain.

'Didn't take you very long to give up,' Angel said. Not dissaprovingly, but... worriedly. 'I'm guessing you didn't have a lot of fun?'

Understatement of the millenium. Alice had to ditch her friends to steer clear of a guy who instantly wanted to have sex, and she was hallucinating an individual, grown-up Masquerade. She felt as if she was being punished for something that she hadn't done. It was like finishing school in Russia all over again when she was twelve, and her debutante grandmother wanted her to learn etiquette. If she did not sit with her back straight and pour tea correctly, Alice's grandmother would sigh heavily and tut at her. It wasn't like Alice disliked her grandmother, she just thought she made big deals out of nothing.

Alice couldn't be bothered replying to Angel's question, she just stared blankly ahead, and the soft orange glow of streetlights combined with the startling white of car headlights against the black unmoving sky never left her gaze unless the area changed. Alice felt as if she was regretting leaving the party and being a "ditcher" on her friends, but she was unstable. Her remaining there would have brought up worse matters, which would include a pissed-off Runo.

Angel dropped Alice off at Julie's place and, being a great friend, took her inside to make sure she would be safe and happy on her own. Alice laid down on Julie's futon to ease her headache and get a little sleep, and Angel catiously left. A few minutes later Alice recieved a text from Fabia, obviously a text that either didn't come until late after Fabia had sent it, or it was a text that Fabia sent since she forgot the contrast in planetary time zones. _Hey cutie! Change of plans, I'm flying into NYC at 7:25 tommorow night! Can't wait, see you soon! Xxxx_

Alice sat up. She wasn't prepared yet, she was expecting Fabia in around three days as opposed to one. That just added more to her plate. Good old Fabia... she was full of surprises. Still, though, she was an amazing friend, and she had perfect timing. Alice needed her more than ever, so having her arrive a few days early was godsend. She sent a quick, effortless message back with a few kisses on the end to give it purpose, and laid down on the futon, which was actually pretty comfortable. She scooped up Julie's kangaroo soft toy and stared at it aimlessly, as if she was expecting it to respond to her. It just stared at her with those black bead eyes, dull as a soft toy would be.

Sometimes Alice wondered what it was like to look at life behind the eyes of an unfeeling toy.

Xx3xX

'Hey, Masquerade...'

'Hnnn...'

'Come on, hun, rise and shine...'

'... go away...'

'Make me.'

'... hnnnnnn...'

'You should really get up now, it's not healthy to sleep all day and not move around let alone eat anything.'

Masquerade gradually opened his eyes, which were literally on fire, to look at Lily who was sitting next to him on his bed. He didn't drink much last night, but he headed to bed at two in the morning. Exhausted Masquerade was also an Evil Masquerade, and anyone who pissed Evil Masquerade off ran away crying. The only exception with Lily was that she was a girl.

'Good morning, sleeping beauty.' Lily said gently, pulling a strand of Masquerade's wild blond hair. 'How did you sleep?'

'By staying out partying then crashing while having serious fucking jetlag.' Masquerade responded sarcastically. 'Those two things don't mix... I learnt that the hard way.'

'I feel for you,' Lily said, smirking, 'but you can't stay in bed all day. Come and at least get something to eat.'

'Thanks, Lil, but I'm not hungry.'

'Bullshit. I made caramel brownies.'

'I'm up then.'

So Masquerade, after five minutes, headed downstairs. He suddenly forgot he'd left something in the living room that night, he went to look for it, but what a surprise- Julie was there. She was sitting with Lily, drinking coffee. Masquerade honestly wasn't in the mood for this shit right now, so he quickly headed in the opposite direction.

'Masquerade!'

He froze, annoyed that Lily blew his cover, and turned back to her.

'Have you met Julie?' Lily asked excitedly. 'When she met up with me at Coney Island you were off somewhere.'

'We met a long time ago.' Julie said, her eyes glimmering. 'Long time no see, Masquerade... and you're looking good.'

'I'm going out for a smoke.' Lily said. 'Don't miss me too much.'

As soon as she left the room, Julie immediately switched moods. 'Alright, who the fuck are you and what's your deal with Alice?'

Masquerade blinked. 'What?'

'You heard me. Who _are_ you and what did you do to Alice?'

Masquerade raised an eyebrow. 'I'm me. And about Alice... is she the girl who screamed in my face and ran away?'

'Don't fucking play dumb with me!' Julie snapped. 'You know exactly who I'm talking about!'

Masquerade was hoping that Sheridan would awkwardly walk past and take interest in Julie. 'Look, it's been a long night, I'm tired and I'm not in the mood for this right now...'

'What the fuck is going on here!?' Julie cried.

So Masquerade reluctantly explained how he was standing in front of her, why he was seperate from this Alice girl and that he was definitely created via sexual reproduction. The only thing he left out was his dark childhood. He sounded like he was on crack, conjuring up this retarded fairytale, and he was starting to wonder how many people he'd have to retell it to.

Luckily Julie actually understood, and more importantly, believed him. 'The accident with the Silent Core did all that to you and Alice. So... you were, like, still yourself before that thing with the Bakugan happened.'

'Pretty much.' Masquerade replied. 'But I was still going through puberty.'

Julie blushed a little, and her eyes moved to Masquerade's tattoo of a long chain wrapping around his bicep and down a small length of his forearm. 'And you were the man under the hood who helped Alice the other night.'

Masquerade looked at her. 'So you figured it out, huh?'

'Same voice, height and tattoo.' Julie said. 'When you know your way around a guy, it's kind of hard to miss.'

'You've got a good memory.'

'So, like... if you live in Australia... how the hell did you turn up at a club in New York, go back to Australia on that same night and return to New York a day later?'

'I gave up on Bakugan but hung onto that teleporting card crap.' Masquerade said, stretching slightly. 'I never really use it, so if you're still into that game you can have the thing. I don't want it.'

'Oh. Sweet.' Julie said enthusiastically. 'It's all mine. Do you by chance know a girl named Mira?'

'Mira Clay?'

'Yeah, that's her.' Julie nodded. 'So you know her?'

'Yeah, she's my cousin.' Masquerade replied simply. 'Didn't she ever tell you that?'

'She doesn't talk about her family.' Julie sounded astonished. 'Are you really? I don't believe you.'

'Ask her yourself. Ask Keith as well, he's my cousin. Where do you think the fucked up hair and heridetary mask thing comes from?'

'Keith changed his hair.'

'It was still fucked up to begin with.'

'How are they your...'

'Their mom is my dad's sister. She married their tech-geek old man.'

'No offence, but your name is... unique.' Julie ventured, raising an eyebrow. 'Why is your name Masquerade?'

'Why's your name Julie?'

'Because it's what my parents called me...?'

'There's your answer.'

'But why Masquerade? It's kind of... weird. I don't believe that's your name.'

'It's not.'

Julie stared at him. '... then-'

Masquerade looked away, then sighed. 'It's not important.'

Julie blinked. 'Ok then... for a man with a weird taken name and freaky hair, you're pretty cute.'

She said it flirtatiously, with no apparent trace of inhibition. She really wanted to say _you are SO hot, _but she'd probably scare him off.

Masquerade felt slightly awkward as he could tell Julie was into him, but then there was no harm in a little flirting. 'You're not bad yourself.'

'If you woke up naked beside me and you could only say three words, what would you say?'

'Was I drunk?'

'Owch... that was so mean.' Julie said, pretending to pout.

'We're only on a first name basis here.' Masquerade pointed out.

'Mm.' Julie stared at Masquerade. Not only was he incredibly tasty, he was one hell of a man. He was so virile that it seemed impossible for him to have ever shared bodies with a female vessel. Julie's eyes lingered on Masquerade's uncovered upper body for an unhealthy amount of time. He had big pecs and the best abs she'd ever seen, and...

'Hey,' he said suddenly, snapping her from her dirty thoughts, 'you should sit down.'

You should just fuck me now,

Julie thought, her eyes wandering below his abdomen.

Masquerade felt a little uncomfortable judging by the look Julie was giving him. '... are you alright?'

And luckily Lily happened to return at that moment. 'Sorry, guys, it was just so warm outside that it was impossible to come back inside. Masquerade, I'm going to head out with Julie to do a little shopping. Kai's still crashed out on my pool table for drunken reasons, Crusader's taking a look at my car and Sheridan's gone out for a walk, but you're more than welcome to use my car if you need to. Just tell Crusader to piss off.'

'Alright,' Masquerade yawned. 'Have fun.'

'Bye... Masquerade.' Julie said disappointely. 'It was nice seeing you again.'

Masquerade wasn't impressed. He just wanted to go back to bed. 'Yeah. Tell your friend that I'm sorry for scaring her and I hope she feels better.'

Julie smiled wanly. 'She'll be grateful you said that. And I'm sure she'll be fine.'

She left with Lily, who playfully gave him the finger before she closed the door behind her. Masquerade took this as the perfect oppurtunity to go back to bed, so he dragged himself upstairs and climbed the ladder to the attic. Before he went back to bed he did a few sets of chin-ups to wear himself out, which wasn't as good as weight-lifting, but it was better than nothing. Then he was finally able to crash out.

Xx3xX

Alice woke up the next morning at around six, and stayed up for a good two hours chatting with Runo about the weird events surrounding the party before she felt tired again and went back to sleep.

Her next awakening was at eleven in the morning, when everyone else was awake and being highly inconsiderate. Julie had returned home, and with her was Lily, the girl with the amazing hair that Alice had met at the party. But at this point Alice wasn't in the mood for visitors regardless of whether it was Julie's place or not.

Runo and Angel made a massive fuss of Alice, acting as if she was either a terrified child lining up for a vaccine or just an emotionally unstable woman incapable of properly looking after herself. Either way they were seriously asking for it, so she headed outside before she could end up telling Runo where to shove her opinions on Alice's hydration level.

'Morning, gorgeous!'

Alice hesitated, and turned to see Julie and Lily sitting on bright pink plastic chairs which over-looked the small balcony. She smiled wanly out of mere respect, simply because she was too tired to even consider being kind.

'How did you sleep?' Julie persisted.

'Let's see,' Alice said sarcastically, and sighed. 'I laid down and closed my eyes. That was about it.'

'That's one for the books.' Lily smirked.

Alice's eye twitched slightly. For some reason beyond her, Alice had this odd feeling about Lily. Not like she was a serial killer or vise versa, but... untrustworthy. It was probably the hair and the piercings combined.

'Alice,' Julie asked, putting her coffee down, 'you remember what happened last night, right?'

'Unfortunately, I remember it as if it was real.' Alice said, leaning against the balcony railing.

Julie and Lily exchanged glances, and then Julie looked back at Alice, exhaling deeply as she did so. 'Al, it _was _real.'

'No it wasn't.' Alice argued.

'Don't be so childish, Alice. Look, I found it all hard to believe too, but when I visited Lily this morning I met Masquerade, he explained everything in this fucked up context, and he proved himself to be a nice, handsome, sexy, amusing and interesting guy. And by interesting I mean... _really _interesting.'

'And he's a great friend of mine.' Lily added, leaning back in her chair and taking a drag from her cigarette. Her lips fluted out very slightly, and a swirl of smoke curled out. 'We go a long way back, and the story isn't pretty at all. We don't like to talk about it. But because of Masquerade, I'm sitting here on the porch of my friend's house and living in freedom.'

'Oh my God!' Julie almost cried. 'Lil! We should totes round up our friends and go friggin' bowling!'

'Bowling?' Lily scoffed.

'Yes!' Julie giggled. 'Bowling! Why not? I _love _bowling!'

'Sorry to disappoint you, Jules, but if I offered that idea to the boys they'd laugh until their testicles would become numb.' Lily said, trying not to laugh herself. 'They're for pubs and all those "manly" places.'

'So they're a bunch of self-righteous alcoholics?' Alice asked, running her fingers through her hair.

'No!' Lily said a little defensively. 'They're sensible, caring, great men, and typical ones at that. At the moment I'm not sure about Sheridan as he's not incredibly sensible, but the other three are wise and a lot of fun to be around.'

Julie still seemed intent on the bowling idea. 'Does Masquerade like bowling?'

Lily glanced at her. 'I don't know, actually. I'll ask him.'

'I won't be able to come if any event comes up,' Alice said quickly. 'Fabia's flying in tonight at 7:25 and Runo and I are meeting her at the airport.'

'So?' Julie asked. 'She should come too.'

'I don't think so. She'll be tired from travelling.'

Julie rolled her eyes playfully. 'No she won't, Fabia's always up for fun outings.'

Alice actually hated the way Julie talked about Fabia. She acted as if she knew Fabia better than Alice did when as a matter of fact Fabia was Alice's closest friend. Alice felt childish, but she had a right to for that reason. 'Let's just wait until Fabia actually gets here. If she doesn't want to, you guys can go, but I won't. I highly doubt she'll want to go, though.'

And she turned out to initially be sort of wrong. Later that evening Runo and Alice took Runo's cute (but shabby) little white car to the LaGuardia Airport to collect Fabia, making a stop at McDonald's along the way for frozen strawberry lemonades. Once they reached the correct terminal they parked and hurried to the specified gate, still intent on their frozen drinks. Alice was aware that she was being eyed up and down by various men, but she tried her best to ignore them. Runo was receiving a small share of glances, however, it didn't help that her blue hair was in slightly messy pigtails and she was dressed in dark blue jeans and a striped sweater. She looked a lot prettier with her hair down, and if she went that way, she could have pulled off the look. Alice herself looked naturally stunning, with her hair in a fishtail braid and her choice of clothing a vintage white tied crochet top and a white and pink floral flared skirt. Even when she was in a temporary bad mood she could still look like an innocent, chic, girly fashionista.

'Hey, Alice,' Runo said suddenly, nudging her friend. 'She's here.'

Alice's eyes swivelled to the gate, which Fabia had just passed through. She looked gorgeous, with her long midnight blue hair in a tousled bun, a lime green dice nose stud and a t-shirt dress with tights and woollen ugg boots. Obviously she didn't bother to check what the weather would be like in New York, but still, she looked great.

Fabia briskly made her way out of the gate noting her unfamiliar surroundings, then lit up when her eyes landed on Alice. When she was at least a foot away from Alice and Runo she dropped her bag and rushed to Alice for a hug, and Runo kindly picked up the neglected bag. Alice breathed in her best friend's scent- a sweet mix of cotton candy, white musk and frangipani- and hugged her back tightly. She felt a wave of relief wash over her, as now her besterest buddy was here, Alice could have some sense bitch-slapped into her.

'Holy shit,' Fabia said in disbelief, 'one, you have no idea how much I've missed you, and two, you are so fucking pretty I want to slap you.'

'You're a good friend, then, aren't you?' Alice replied, rolling her eyes. 'I've missed you too, hotness. Honestly, you are seriously hot, and I'm not saying that as a lesbian.'

Fabia laughed. 'Lesbi-honest, you want some of this.'

'Hell yes.' Alice teased, pretending to eye her friend up. 'Come at me, you sexy beast.'

'O-kay.' Runo interrupted, clearing her throat. 'We've probably got luggage to collect and an increasing parking charge, so maybe it would be best to get going. Hi, Fabia, it's great to see you. You look awesome.'

'Likewise.' Fabia replied, smiling at Runo. 'You're looking gorgeous, Runo. And is it just me or is Alice the runt now out of us three?'

'Hey.' Alice snapped, nudging her.

'She's the runt out of all of us,' Runo grinned. 'You, me, Julie, all the other girls... we're all taller than Alice. But she's the one with the boyfriend.'

'What!?' Alice cried. 'I do _not _have a boyfriend!'

'You wish you did.' Runo sighed, approaching the luggage carousels. She winked at Fabia. 'A certain blond, apparently attractive, mysterious guy that you have a little history with.'

'Ooh, is that so?' Fabia giggled, looking intrigued. 'What haven't you been telling me, Miss Gehabich? What's going on?'

'A-absolutely nothing!' Alice stammered, her cheeks flushing bright, hot red. 'Ew, Runo, why the hell would I be into _him_? He doesn't even exist, and... his hair is beyond the human comprehension!'

Runo shrugged. 'Well, Julie met him, and she said he was all too real and though the explaination was fucked up, he was serious and made sense. You and I both can tell when Julie lies- and she wasn't lying.'

'Fabia, this bitch is asking for a serious slapping,' Alice continued, clapping her hands over her ears. 'Please... knock her out and do us both a favor.'

'Well, now that she's blocking her ears, I can ask your opinion.' Runo lowered her voice, and turned to Fabia who grabbed her suitcase off of the carousel. 'Julie's good friends with a girl who happens to be mates with that guy you know Alice has a little history with, right?'

'Mmhm, I know,' Fabia said, raising an eyebrow and smiling wanly. She hesitated, then blushed a little. 'You mean Shun... right?'

'No!' Runo hissed, looking over at Alice who was wandering through a nearby Japanese gift shop. She sighed softly. 'I meant that guy with the mask and weird hair. You know, there was this accident thing and either person became a vessel for the other...?'

'Oh, yeah...' Fabia said, blinking. 'Sorry, I've just got pretty serious jetlag. So what about him?'

'Well, it turns out he's not this explosion accident thing.' Runo continued. 'Actually, Julie told me everything, and it's really... really fucked up how it all happened. Julie's friend says there's something else in his past which ties everything together, but he doesn't like to talk about it. Now he's actually a completely seperate person from Alice, he's apparently a seriously tasty-looking hunk, and Julie's friend is dragging him and some of their other friends to Coney Island to meet up with us later.'

Fabia was quiet for a few seconds, then she spoke slowly. 'That is so fucking trippy.'

'I know, right?' Runo said wearily. 'So... if you're in for it, we'll head to Coney Island, which is both a boardwalk and a carnival sort of thing. We'll have to meet up with Julie first and take a train, because there's going to be around seven of us.'

Fabia shrugged. 'If Alice is up for it, then so am I.'

Xx3xX

_'Are you sure you want to go through with this, sir?'_

_'Do I look sure, Anderson? Because I think I look goddamn sure.'_

_'Whatever you say, sir.'_

_Grayson looked over the terrified ten year old with a burning rage. This kid was the best he had on the battlefield, and he wasn't going to lose him over a temporary battle with insanity._

_'Whatever you do, Raiden, you keep your motherfuckin' eyes open.' Grayson growled, droplets of saliva showering the young blond's blood stained face. 'Only cowards close their eyes. And are you a coward?'_

_The boy shook with fear, his blue eyes distant. 'N-no.'_

_'ARE YOU A COWARD OR NOT?' Grayson roared._

_'No, sir.' The boy's voice darkened. 'I'm not a coward.'_

_'I won't have cowards holding my guns.' Grayson snapped, grabbing the child's hair and yanking it so his back of his head hit the metal table. 'If you get weak out there, boy, you'd better not return or I'll kill you myself. To die on the battlefield is to die with dignity.'_

_'To die with dignity is to die in my own blood.' The blond said robotically._

_'So you understand.' Grayson let go of the ten year old's hair, and before the boy could breathe in relief, Grayson raised his leg and pressed the heel of his boot into the child's arm, pushing with excessive force. 'You prepared to die, kid?'_

_'I'll die for others.' The child gasped. 'Sir...'_

_'Others!?' Grayson shouted. 'OTHERS!? You son of a-'_

_'Sir,' the therapist exclaimed. 'I'd advise you to release the boy.'_

_'I'll do whatever I fucking please.'_

_'You say you want his insanity to be cured. By harming him, you are fueling his insanity.'_

_Grayson released the young blond, grumbling in anger. 'Hear that, Adam? This time you got lucky. I won't kill you today.'_

_He kicked the door to the padded white room open, and smiled sadistically. 'But one day, I'll paint those walls red. And you won't be around to watch it.'_

_He glanced at the doctor, and nodded carelessly. 'Throw him in.'_

Xx3xX

It turned out that asking Alice was a big mistake and they should have just dragged her along.

'No!' Alice snapped. 'No fucking way in _hell_! Runo, you promised that you wouldn't even _mention _anything about last night! This is all a stupid, badly played joke!'

'Alice, you're being really childish.' Runo said calmly, her eyes concentrating only on the road as the car swiftly glided along the highway. 'Look, apparently even Masquerade wasn't in the mood for heading out or confrontations and Lily had to get on her knees and beg him. But he gave in and is making the effort, so why can't you? Get over your fears, you're not thirteen anymore, you're a woman now!'

'I'm not scared at all,' Alice replied uneasily, slightly unsure, 'I just know this is all just stupid and ridiculous!'

'And you're right.' Runo agreed. 'But once we hear what Masquerade has to say, everything will make sense. And from what I've heard, I know he's thinking the same thing, he can just take it easier. I think he's had it pretty rough.'

'Pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows,' Fabia sung, winding her fingers through Alice's hair.

'You can't be fucking serious,' Alice sulked, crossing her arms. 'I refuse to co-operate. Fabia and I aren't coming, we're going out for dinner to celebrate her coming here. I'm-'

'Going to save it for tommorow night.' Runo cut in, steering the car left. She flicked her indicator off. 'Tonight you're going to put something warm, sexy and pretty on, wear your hair loose and meet Masquerade face to face, person to person. You're going to talk things through with him and get a better understanding, then go home with happy thoughts and a clear head. Capiche?'

'Since when did I get a letter from the hospital telling me that you're my mother?' Alice asked, narrowing her eyes.

'And why does she have to put something sexy on and wear her hair loose?' Fabia asked, raising an eyebrow.

'I have legitimate reasons.' Runo replied, lowering her voice slightly so Alice couldn't catch on.

'Look, Runo, I don't want to do any of this bullshit!' Alice snapped. 'Fab, what do you want to do?'

'You're _so_ pretty, Alice.' Fabia said, deliberately avoiding the conversation. 'How can someone be this pretty?'

'I guess this means she's agreeing with me.' Runo said before Alice could protest. 'I was going to win this, Alice, you know I always win.'

'I hate you.'

'I'm sure you do.'

Xx3xX

'So, Bubbles, what's the big deal about avoiding this guy Runo was talking about?' Fabia inquired as Alice applied a deep purple eyeshadow to her eyelids to achieve a smokey eye look.

'It would be really weird and awkward. Besides, if it turns out Runo and Julie are telling the truth about him, then I'm not ready to confront him.' Alice replied, putting the eyeshadow compact down and taking her black glitter eyeliner out of her make-up bag. 'Sit still, Turtle, or the eyeliner will smudge.'

She was glad that Runo had given them a while to catch up, and even more glad that Fabia was being supportive and promised to stick by Alice through the night. After all, they were best friends. When they first met they highly disliked each other as they were battling for Shun's affection, but then they ended up actually hitting it off.

'Hey, since we're postponing our little night out for tommorow, we should go to a sushi restaurant.' Alice suggested, finishing the double eyeliner effect on Fabia's eyes then picking out a peach lip liner. I know this place which does the most incredible gourmet sushi and teppanyaki, and it's all authentic and the chefs are so lovely.'

'What's sushi?' Fabia asked, puzzled.

Alice had forgotten that Fabia wasn't familiar with a lot of Earth foods. She remembered when Fabia tried chocolate for the first time, and she was ecstatic. 'It's a type of popular Japanese cuisine, and it's usually rice and seaweed with fish or meat. Sushi is amazing, and trust me, you'll love it. Ask Shun about it, because he can give you a better idea.'

Fabia hesitated, and started fiddling with her hair. '... Shun?'

Alice stopped applying Fabia's lipstick and stared at her with wide eyes. 'Fabia! Did you just _blush_?'

Fabia was certainly blushing now. 'Blush? Who, me? No, way, I'd never blush! Okay, maybe just a little...'

'Oh my God!' Alice cried, quiet enough so Runo wouldn't overhear. 'You have a crush on Shun! Awww, Fabs, you are so _cute_! You should totally go for it.'

Fabia looked utterly adorable, winding her hair through her fingers and smiling innocently. 'You really think so?'

'Of course I do! You're a stunning, beautiful, amazing girl and Shun is a handsome, relaxed guy, and you'd make the perfect couple.' Alice giggled. She finished Fabia's make-up, and took a step back, admiring her work. 'You look so hot, babes. Go and eye yourself up while I find something to go with your outfit.'

She left the bathroom, and in a minute or so she returned with an emerald heart chain neckace. The chain was large, but it still looked stylish. 'This will bring out your eyes and your hair. Wow, Turtle, you're so pretty. You don't even need that make-up, you're beautiful enough.'

'_You_ don't need make-up.' Fabia retorted. 'Don't even go near that mascara.'

'Are you two ready yet?' Runo asked, appearing in the doorway. She glanced at Fabia, and her eyes widened. 'Wow. Holy shit. Fabia, you look amazing.'

'It all comes naturally, darling.' Fabia said jokingly, trying and failing to look posh.

'It does, actually.' Runo agreed. She looked at Alice. 'You look adorable, Alice, but are you sure you'll be warm?'

'I'll be fine.' Alice replied cheerfully, applying a light lip gloss to her own lips before packing her make-up away. That was an understatement. She was dressed in a low cut creamy pink v-neck dress with a white top underneath, white ugg boots with pom poms, a thick cream cardigan and a vintage cotton candy necklace. Her hair was curled at the ends, and was accessorised with a pretty, casual flower crown. She was probably going to be a little cold, but she didn't mind at this moment. Runo, however, did. Fabia was more interested in playing with her own hair and trying to make it sit evenly.

'Wow!' Fabia said suddenly, picking up Alice's Tiffany doll that sat on her drawer. 'This thing is creepy! Who is it supposed to be?'

'That's Tiffany.' Alice giggled. 'The bride of Chucky. She was a limited edition doll I was lucky to get, and I got the Seed of Chucky version of her because she looked exactly like she did in the movie. I've just curled her hair at the ends.'

'Alice, seriously.' Runo sighed, breaking the subject. 'You're wearing a dress and a cardigan. How's that going to be warm?'

'The cardigan's thick.' Alice replied. She sighed and picked up a pink sweater with a black Peter Pan collar. 'There. If it suddenly starts snowing, I'll be sure to use this.'

'I'm supposed to be the sarcastic one here.' Runo said, rolling her eyes. She picked up her car keys and jangled them. 'Let's go, girls.'

Xx3xX

Alice almost regretted giving in to Runo's proposition of the little Coney Island visit.

Every kilometre that they got closer to the boardwalk, Alice became more and more reluctant. She begged Fabia to annoy Runo to the point where she'd stop the car and kick them both out, but Fabia was more or less on Runo's side.

'You need to face your fears.' She said brightly. 'There's nothing worse than spending your life running away from something you cannot face. My sister told me that a long time ago, and I've remembered it to this day.'

'The only thing I'm scared of right now is clowns.' Alice lied. 'I hate clowns. They're probably the creepiest things ever.'

'Clowns...' Fabia tried thinking for a moment. 'Oh! Is that one of those things that was handing out cute balloons to little children, and you didn't want to go into that coffee place just because the clown was sitting outside it? I don't see how they're scary.'

'You're insane.' Alice said quickly, her eyes widening. 'Clowns are horrible. Period.'

'Tee hee!' Julie giggled. 'You said period!'

Runo sighed and rolled her eyes. 'And I thought that level of immaturity was reserved for ten year olds. Anyway, I'm pretty sure we're here, unless you can convince me that Coney Island isn't full of annoying lights, screaming and is right next to the unmistakeable view of the ocean.'

'Oh God.' Alice was practically panicking at this point. 'Runo, can't we just turn around and go home? Please? We'll probably just instigate something.'

'I was born to instigate drama.' Runo laughed, parking the car. 'Now get out before I throw you whores on the sidewalk.'

They indeed did what they were told, and Runo locked her car then started forward enthusiastically. 'Since they did some work on the boardwalk, I think I've started to like this place a little more. But one thing that'll never change are those fucking Mermaid Parades... ugh. You three would be in the spotlight of one of those things.'

Fabia and Julie laughed, but Alice was in no mood to laugh. She wanted to go home and see her pug, then try and get to sleep. She grabbed Fabia, who looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

'Come on, Fab, let's just go.' Alice begged. 'I don't want to be here.'

Fabia smiled sympathetically. 'It won't be that bad, trust me. Just hang in there... I'll stick by you.'

Alice smiled gratefully, but her eyes widened when she heard Dan's voice. And on group outings, where there was Dan, there was-

'Shun?' Fabia said quietly, blushing hotly. 'I-I didn't know he'd be there. Help!'

Alice was also silently panicking. Shun believed that Masquerade ruined Alice and hated him for it, so him being there would indeed instigate a lot of drama. Additionally, Fabia was practically shaking.

'Wow, you girls look great tonight.' Dan said, grinning. He approached Runo, and pulled her in for a kiss. 'Especially you, babe.'

'Oh, stop it.' Runo laughed, but wrapped her arms around Dan's neck and kissed him. Billy tried to approach Julie, but she just dug her phone out of her pocket and acted as if she was completely uninterested in him. Shun, on the other hand, focused all attention on Alice. Fabia squeaked and went to move behind Alice, but didn't see what she was doing and tripped over.

'Ouch!' She pouted. She looked up to meet the handsome face of a very puzzled Shun, and grinned sheepishly. 'Hi there, Shun.'

Shun blinked. 'Fabia?'

Fabia was practically screaming in her head, and even Alice could tell. 'Yeah, that's me. It's been a long time!'

Shun stared at her in disbelief, then reached out a hand and helped the blue-haired beauty up. '... it really has. And you look...'

Fabia winced.

Shun was silent for a second, then- 'incredible.'

Fabia cocked her head to the side, cunning enough to try and get more of Shun's attention. 'Sorry, I didn't really hear you.'

'You look beautiful.' Shun said genuinely, resulting in a cheesy schoolgirl giggle from Alice's friend. Then Shun turned his attention to Alice. 'Alice... you look breathtaking.'

Fabia sagged slightly.

'You always say that.' Alice muttered under her breath.

'I'm sorry?'

'I didn't say anything.' Alice laughed uneasily.

'Lily!' Julie spontaneously cried, putting her phone away. She took off running down the boardwalk, and Alice backed away slightly. Her heart was literally slamming at her chest, and she was feeling sick due to her own fear. She felt Fabia's warm hand grip her wrist, and then Fabia was gently pulling her and she was running alongside her without even realising or resisting it. Alice eventually could see Lily in the sheer blackness of the still night, and her stomach dropped when she saw Sheridan walk up beside Lily. If he saw her, she was done for.

Julie ran forward and threw her arms around Lily and Alice squinted as Chris, or rather Crusader, and Kai come up to stand beside Lily. Fabia eyed Kai up and down, slightly interested, while Alice was secretly disappointed to see that Masquerade wasn't there. Unless this was a stupid joke.

'It's so good to see you guys!' Julie said excitedly. 'But, um, like... where's Masquerade?'

'Who?' Dan asked, startled.

Lily peered around her friends, and bit her lip. 'I guess he's wandered off.'

'I'm right here.' Came a familiar, deep, incredible voice that practically sounded like sex. Alice shrunk back slightly, and none other than Masquerade himself walked up and stood beside Lily, tall, beyond handsome and sexy enough to get even Runo on her knees. He was a real hunk, Alice easily admitted, and he had one hell of a body now she could see him properly. Alice liked a well toned, muscled guy, and as far as Masquerade was going, Alice was hooked. His arms and shoulders were perfect, toned and ripped with fairly large muscle, and on his left bicep was a tattoo of a chain wrapping down to his forearm, and on his right bicep was a tattoo of the Grim Reaper holding two guns. He was dressed in black jeans over military style boots, a dark grey shirt and a black vest, and around his neck were silver dog tags, which made Alice wonder if Masquerade had ever served in the army or if he just wore them for the sake of it. Then it occured to her that Masquerade was actually standing in front of her.

'... hi.' Alice said softly.

'What the fuck!?' Dan cried.

Shun's jaw fell slack. 'Who the-'

'Are you kidding me?' Billy asked, shocked.

'Wow.' Runo was pretty impressed, and that said a lot. She looked Masquerade up one side then down the other. 'Hel-lo, cutie.'

'I know.' Julie whispered. 'What did I tell you?'

'What did I miss?' Fabia asked, looking up. She blinked at Masquerade, then shrugged. 'Meh. Not my type.'

'What the actual _fuck_ is going on here!?' Dan cried. 'If Alice is here, then-'

'WHAT THE HELL IS THIS, SOME KIND OF A JOKE!?' Shun yelled. He looked straight at Masquerade with burning eyes. 'Stay away from Alice!'

He lunged at Masquerade, who dodged with ease. Frustrated, Shun swung a punch that would potentially blind a man, but Masquerade's hand shot up and clasped around the incoming fist. He was silent for a second, then said calmly, 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.'

'I wouldn't even bother sticking around if I were you.' Shun hissed. 'Who the fuck are you?'

'Me.' Masquerade replied simply. 'It's been a long time, Shun.'

'You're fucking insane.' Shun breathed angrily.

'I was told that a lot when I was a kid.' Masquerade said. 'But times have changed, and so have I.'

'No you haven't.' Shun yelled. 'I'll fucking kill you!'

'Shun, please stop!' Alice begged, stepping forward and grabbing Shun's arm.

'Stay out of this, Alice.' Shun snapped, pulling his arm away. 'This guy thinks he can mess up your mind again? He can think again!'

'He won't, Shun, just stop!' Alice cried, and grabbed hold of Shun as he lunged at Masquerade again. Shun accidentally pushed Alice, who tripped and landed on her backside. Tears welling in her eyes, she looked up as Masquerade grabbed Shun by his jacket and threw him aside, and Lily and Crusader ran forward to try and break up the fight. She felt herself being pulled up, and looked at Runo and Fabia, who smiled at her supportively.

Alice never really believed in love at first sight. But she knew that Masquerade was the one who helped her the other night, and if she were to fall in love right now, it wouldn't just be love at first sight. It would be also his strong, heroic, protective nature. At that moment, she forgot everything that ever happened in the past, and focused on her attraction towards him. But right now, she needed to step in and stop them from hurting each other. She darted towards them, pushing past Lily, and stepped in between the blazing, bloody men. 'Stop! Just _stop_ it!'

'Get out of my way, Alice!' Shun roared.

'She has nothing to do with this.' Masquerade growled. 'Leave her alone.'

'Both of you shut up!' Alice screamed. 'Shun, he didn't do anything wrong, and he didn't mess up my mind! It's not like he asked for any of it to happen, so just back off and leave him alone!'

Fabia grabbed Shun's arm and pulled him away, while he was still seething. Alice turned to Masquerade, whose nose was dripping blood. 'Masquerade... are you okay?'

'I'm fine.' He replied gruffly.

'Your nose could be broken.' Alice said worriedly. 'Let me take a look at it.'

'It's not broken.' Masquerade said, holding his nose. 'That punch was too weak to break anything.'

Alice smiled at his sense of humor, and looked at Shun, who had a laceration around his left eye and bruises already forming. It was probably going to end up being one heck of a black eye. But Fabia had him under control, so Alice could focus her attention on Masquerade. Since he was calm, the bleeding would probably stop in a matter of seconds. It was a wonder why that mask of his wasn't broken. 'That blood isn't going to clean itself up. Come with me.'

Instead of giving Masquerade an option to follow, Alice grabbed his hand and pulled him to the nearest public toilets. She realised she was practically holding his hand, and blushing, she moved her hand to his arm. Once she reached the public toilets, she told him to stay outside, then rushed into the women's bathroom and grabbed some tissues. She rushed back outside where Masquerade was standing with his arms crossed, and she began cleaning the blood. 'I think your nose has stopped bleeding, but I'm not taking any chances.'

She finished cleaning the blood, then retreated to the bathroom to discard the tissues. When she returned, she was quite proud of herself. 'Score one for Alice. I think that looks a lot better. How do you feel?'

Masquerade shrugged his shoulders slightly. 'The same as when I came here. I've got a headache.'

'I don't have any painkillers.' Alice said quietly, wanting to kick herself. 'Because it's not windy, though, we could just...'

She paused. '... walk around?'

Masquerade was more focused on his headache. 'Hmph.'

'The others will probably be wondering where we are.' Alice sighed. She managed a cheerful smile. 'I'm not waiting around for them to find us.'

She grabbed Masquerade's arm again, marvelling at the sheer muscle mass, then decided better of it and grabbed his shirt instead. She dragged him back to the soft glittery litten area of where the fight ensued. But her friends weren't there. His friends weren't there. No one was there.

Absolutely no one.

Alice blinked, and examined her surroundings. She could see Runo's car, thankfully, but it was a matter of where she actually was. She could have gone into the amusement park with the others, but Alice wasn't taking her chances. It was best to stay in that area and wait for them. With a bunch of solid, intimidating men surrounding them, who would dare go near the girls?

'I wonder where everyone is...' Alice said aloud. She glanced at Masquerade. 'Maybe we should wait here.'

'...'

'Are you okay?'

'... fine.'

'That's what you said before.'

'It hasn't changed.'

'I don't think there would be anything wrong with just walking in this area.' Alice digressed. 'And I have some questions, so...'

He was already walking past her with his arms still crossed. Alice ran to catch up with him, and walked by his side, feeling almost tranquil with the sound of the calm waves rolling onto the beach and the fizzing of the waves being sucked back in again. 'I want to know a little about what happened back then. When we were...'

'The Silent Core was what happened.' Masquerade replied with a hint of despise in his voice. 'I was...'

He paused for a moment, then continued. 'I was sitting outside, and next thing I knew I was standing in front of this fucking white dragon.'

Alice nodded. 'Naga.'

Masquerade went silent for a moment again, then spoke. 'It started talking, and it said if I went around being an asshole, I'd get freedom.'

'Freedom from what?' Alice asked, cocking her head to one side.

Masquerade turned his head away. 'It doesn't matter.'

This must have been what Lily was talking about when she said Masquerade had certain things he didn't like to mention. 'Oh... continue then, I guess.'

'Then everything just... went fucking insane.' Masquerade sighed, running his fingers through his hair. 'The Silent Core was how we... merged, from what I was told. It was all out of control until we just split, and you thought I was just a personality. But if I'm walking right beside you, how does that work?'

'How do I know you're not a figment of my imagination?' Alice giggled.

'How do you know if anything around you is just your imagination?' He responded. 'You only know it's real if you believe it's real.'

Alice heard a soft click, and a glint of blue move within the darkness. Her eyes set on Masquerade's tall, broad form, and she blushed at glimpsing the alluring masculinity of his face. He was all too real, and now she could see his face, she truly could see just how incredibly handsome he was. His jawline was strong, chiselled and sharp, his cheekbones were incredible, his eyebrows were thick and his eyes were a captivating bright blue. No wonder Julie was hyperactive over Masquerade- he was seriously good-looking. Alice more or less wanted to know why he still used that fucking mask when he was a total hunk, but then again, the mask was sexy in a strange way.

'So... you're here.' Alice said, understanding it all. 'You're not me. You're a completely seperate person... and that's how it's always been.'

'I was born by caesarean, so I don't think I'm you. I was created like any other human, and I had the same fate as you. That's all.'

'And is Masquerade your real name? How old are you?'

'No, my parents weren't that cruel. It's just my taken name. And I'm twenty-two.'

Alice actually didn't find it strange that she was attracted to Masquerade, despite the merging situation from eight or nine years ago. 'I think I understand now.'

They were silent for a moment, until Alice broke it. 'So what's happening with you now? I mean, where do you live?'

Masquerade flicked his fringe out of his eyes. 'Australia, in an apartment with Crusader, Sheridan and Kai. You've met them, right?'

'We met last night.' Alice replied. 'Do you have a job?'

'I'm a tattoo artist.' Masquerade said. 'I've been at it for a while now, and so far every person I've given a tattoo has seriously digged the work. Not bragging or anything, but most of the time it's better than they expect. What about you?'

'I work at Runo's parents cafe as a waitress while I'm taking a joint degree in nursing and midwifery at university, and while I was in high school I attended a one day a week culinary course.' Alice said, smiling. 'I love my courses... and I'm in my senior year so I'm almost finished, and I'll move on to midwifery. I really need to move out of Runo's house, though, and get my own place... I have the cutest pug called Coco, and she doesn't like a lot of noise especially when the cafe's busy. Do you have any pets?'

'Two dogs.' Masquerade laughed. 'Julius, my English pitbull and my American bulldog Lola. Lola just came off heat, so Julius was chained up for the eight days but if any other male dog came near Lola, he'd rear up.'

'American bulldog?' Alice asked, fascinated. 'Those are the really short, cute and grumpy dogs, right?'

'You're thinking of English bulldogs.' Masquerade corrected. 'Lola's a big dog, and she's bigger than Julius. She's not agressive, but her tail is.'

'How sweet...' Alice said softly, blushing. 'I love dogs. If I set an alarm for the morning and I don't wake up to it, my pug tries to wake me up... and she loves to play.'

'Cute.'

'I'm sorry for yelling at you last night, by the way.' Alice said shyly.

'Alice!'

'Masquerade!'

They both turned around, to see the rest of the group approach. Fabia ran at Alice and hugged her with all the force she could muster, and Sheridan followed with absolutely no intention of running.

'Don't even come near me.' Masquerade said jokingly.

'Forget it.' Sheridan replied, taking a drag from his cigarette. 'I aint hugging you.'

They both laughed, and then Sheridan noticed Alice.

_Damn it, _Alice thought.

'Hey, it's you!' Sheridan exclaimed. 'That hot firecracker from last night. Uh... Alice, right? How come I didn't notice you from before?'

Firecracker. That's what Masquerade called Alice the other night. Her eye twitched.

'I don't know.' She retorted. 'Maybe you're blind?'

Masquerade and Sheridan both laughed. Alice and Fabia looked at each other.

'It wasn't that funny.' Alice said grumpily.

'I thought it was.' Fabia said supportively, obviously unsure.

'He _is _blind.' Masquerade laughed. 'He sees through his mind, not his eyes. He and Crusader... they both have the same thing.'

So that was why he wore sunglasses at night... right?

'But you can still see, like, how you would with your eyes?' Fabia asked inquisitively.

'Yep. Probably better than any of you, as well.' Sheridan said, looking at Fabia. He looked her up one side then down the other, then turned his gaze from Fabia to Alice, then back to Fabia. 'Double trouble.'

Alice honestly didn't want to be hit on right now. 'Sooo! Where's the others?'

'In the amusement park!' Fabia said excitedly. 'We came looking for you, and we were about to give up hope when we saw you over here. The others should be coming out now, and Runo told me to bring you back to the car. We're leaving.'

Alice didn't want to leave, but with Runo, there was no other choice. She turned to Masquerade, and glanced up at him shyly. 'Bye, Masquerade. I love-d meeting you.'

'Same here.' Masquerade replied. 'Later.'

Alice waved to both Masquerade and Sheridan, and she and Fabia left just as Lily, Crusader and Kai approached the oblivious boys. Alice's scent of roses still lingered on Masquerade's shirt from when she dragged him by it, and Lily wasn't impressed.

'I'm guessing you got pretty close to her, huh?' She asked, managing to sound cheerful but realistically she was seething.

'She's cute.' Masquerade admitted, watching Alice leave with Fabia until they disappeared into the darkness.

'Dude, you smell like a fucking girl now.' Kai laughed. 'What kind of contact did you two make?'

'Don't start with that rocketship bullshit again.' Crusader sighed.

'Okay, you know what?' Lily exclaimed, almost at the point where she was going to throw her cigarette at Runo's car, 'I think we should get out of here. God knows how much shit will go down otherwise.'

Xx3xX

'Right!' Runo exclaimed once she'd found her keys and unlocked the door to her place. 'I'm thinking we should all chill and watch some gorey movie with a huge bowl of popcorn. What do you guys reckon?'

'No flavour or salt whatsoever?' Julie asked, raising an eyebrow and playing with a turquoise painted nail.

'Are you kidding me?' Runo scoffed. 'Dude, caramel corn is the best.'

'Then I'm just for the movie.' Julie said. 'You know I'm on a diet, and like, artificial shit will go straight to my hips.'

'Suit yourself.' Runo shrugged, going over to the DVD shelf and picking out one of the horror movies. 'This one's good... it's about two orphan girls who have this creepy woman trying to be their mom. Alice? Fabia?'

'Caramel corn.' Fabia didn't seem to understand. 'Is it food? Because if it is, I don't mind trying it.'

'I'm going to bed.' Alice responded, yawning.

'It's only nine-'

'Still late.' Alice said quickly. 'I'm really tired. Goodnight, everyone.'

She wasn't really tired, just overwhelmed with romantic, cheesy thoughts. If she wasn't careful, she would end up banging her head and falling into a coma.

She couldn't stop thinking about Masquerade, and couldn't fall asleep. So she just laid there in her the comfort of her bed in the darkness, staring at her pug pointlessy, who was curled up on the opposite pillow. A thought flowed into Alice's mind, and she blushed hotly, wishing she would shrink until she was the size of her pug. She sighed and turned over onto her back, and stared up at the bright white glow in the dark stars on her ceiling, connecting lines as she went. There was something written in every star, she just knew it. Destiny. Fate. And something was waiting for her, she just knew it.

Alice glanced up at the white canopy that was decorated safely with elegant fairy lights she hadn't bothered to turn off yet, and hugged her pillow tightly. She sighed and turned her gaze, and saw her Tiffany doll right in front of her face. She shrieked so loudly that Runo would probably get confused with reality and the horror movie, and quickly leaned over to turn on her lava lamp.

'Boo!' A voice shouted. Fabia popped up from the end of the bed, holding the Tiffany doll, and jumped onto the opposite side of Alice's bed. 'I really scared you, didn't I?'

'No.' Alice sulked, taking a moment to breathe. 'I got a fright, that's all.'

'Sure you did.' Fabia giggled. 'I knew you weren't asleep, because I saw light coming from your room. It's not like you're scared of the dark, right?'

'Only after I've seen a really terrifying horror movie.' Alice glanced up at her canopy, then back at Fabia. 'Like most people, I don't sleep after those kinds of things. Didn't you like the movie?'

'It's a little strange.' Fabia replied, running a finger over Tiffany's black plastic lips. She raised an eyebrow at Alice. 'Who are you thinking about?'

Alice blinked, and shrunk under her covers slightly. 'No one.'

'Aww... you have a crush.'

'I do not!'

'You do so. You like blondie whatshisname.' Fabia teased. 'I have to admit, he's a cutie, but then he's not my type. Maybe you should get him to have a hair cut.'

'I like his hair.' Alice said defensively. 'It's perfect. _He's_ perfect. He's so handsome, strong, protective, funny and really lovely. My kind of man.'

'Yeah, you have a crush alright.' Fabia sighed. 'Well, I'm happy for you! I think you should go for it. Get to know him more first, you know?'

'If I get to see him again.' Alice murmured wistfully.

'I'm sure you will.' Fabia said reassuringly. 'No one promises us a tommorow, so we just have to wait and see if it will unfold. If tommorow never happens, we'll never have known anyway. So just wait and see what happens, and maybe- are you even listening?'

She glanced at Alice, and raised an eyebrow at the fact that she'd already fallen asleep. She lightly poked Alice's forehead, but she didn't budge and instead just carried on sleeping. Fabia's wise little statements must have been that boring. She got up carefully, making sure not to wake her sleeping friend.

'Goodnight, Alice.' She whispered, and with that she turned off the lava lamp and left the room.

Xx3xX

A/N:

FINALLY! Chapter five is complete. That was the second longest chapter, I believe. I had lots of stuff to do with this one. Bleh.

Well, I'm going into exams in about a week. So I won't be up for writing for a little while, I believe. Don't cry, I know you won't miss me.

And so the romance begins. According to Alice, anyway, as Masquerade's not romantically interested in her, and I emphasis this with the 'y' word. But I'm sure he'll do what it takes to keep Sheridan from getting his dirty hands on innocent little Alice. As for Shun, well he damn well needs to move on. Fabia's an adorable, fun-loving girl who's fascinated with the human world, and if Shun doesn't see that, I'll probably drop him into a blender. I do like Shun, though, so that may be an issue.

I'm aware I've gone into detail over Masky's tanked-ness twice. Oh wells. The second time, Alice could see him better. Don't judge :(

This is the fifth chapter. It's been a crazy story, but it's developing. I had no solid plot in concrete to begin with, I just made it up as I went along. And you have no idea how excited I get when I check my e-mails and find a review. It's exhilirating, whether it's constructive criticism or a cute little "hey! Loving the story!" So please, PRETTY PLEASE, FAVE AND REVIEW! I'm coming to the point where if I don't get at least twenty-five reviews ALTOGETHER by the eighth chapter, I will take the entire story down. There's no point having it up if no one's going to read it.

I know there's about three thousand people out there who've read this story. Don't be afraid to review, okay? In fact, it makes my day when people review. I feel all warm and fuzzy :3 I'm also starting an Invader Zim fanfiction soon, for those who love the amazingness that is Invader Zim, however it is categorised as ZAGR so be warned.

So stay tuned for the next chapter and hang on with patience. Otherwise my partner in crime, Death, will inflict patience on you all.

I'm kidding. But still. BE VERY AFRAID :)

I love you all! Be sure to fave and review!

**Xx3xX**


	6. A Tragic Montage, I Guess

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS JUST A MONTAGE OF FLASHBACKS, AND IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO READ IT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.**

Please be mindful that this chapter focuses mainly on the history of Masquerade's parents. There wasn't really a necessity for it, it's just sad and gives an idea of how important Masquerade's mother was to him and his father.

***A/N: Hey hey, readers. It's that time again! Time for me to be wonderfully annoying :D**

**So this will be a long chapter, since I've made you all wait like 11 months. Jeez, I'm an asshole. Sorry, but I had a lot of school work. I'll try update sooner! Try!**

**So this chappy will have some flashbacks, maybe even how Masky's parents met. Does the particular flashback have relevance to the plot? Probably not. It was just fun to write. But I kinda get excited when you get to learn about your favorite character's family. So I hope you kinda do too.**

**So I've changed a few things about Masquerade's parents. You guys remember Eric, right? Yeah, the good-looking guy with long blond hair and a fascination with shadows. Well, Eric isn't all darkness-and-morbidness. Actually, on the morbid part, I beg to differ. You'll learn why.**

**I said no. Just read the damned chapter.**

**Okay, FINE. Eric is a Necromancer. Happy? -_-**

**Actually, Eric isn't just a Necromancer... he's kinda a Medium and a telepath. I thought it was appropriate to give him those abilities as they are all sorta linked. Mediums can communicate with the dead, telepaths read minds and have pretty cool psychological abilities. This isn't a superpower story- mediums and telepaths are sorta realistic, Necromancers... eh, well, I'll use the realm he lives in as an excuse. MOVING ON.**

**Eric:** No, do continue discussing me. I've had but one appearance in this... story.

**Lightning:** Get back to your kingly duties and stop complaining.

**Eric:** You cannot tell me what to do.

**Lightning:** Bitch, I INVENTED you! I can erase you from this fanfiction just like-

**Eric:** Alright, you win.

**Lightning:** Good. Now make me a sandwich, slave.

**Eric:** I don't have to do such a thing. I have my own free will.

**Masquerade:** Dad, this is my story. Get out of it and go brood somewhere.

**Eric: **Where the hell have_ you _been!?

**Masquerade: **Around.

**Lightning: **Shut up, you two, and let me continue my rambling crap! Anywhom, where was I?

**I don't own Bakugan or Peter Pan. Just the plot of this story, and unfortunately Eric -_- I also don't own any of the songs mentioned in , on with the story! GOOD LUCK IN THE LABYRINTH THAT IS THIS CHAPTER, MY DEAR READERS!***

**This gets gorey and cheesy. Move on if you dun like that stuff.**

* * *

><p><span><em>6:21pm, Bakugan Valley, 9 years ago<em>

_Grayson sat poised in his favorite black chair with his feet on the solid table, taking moments to inhale the toxins of a luxurious cigar. It wasn't often he got 'pampered' like this- who the hell did he have to kill to get a cigar in this place? Well, according to Grayson, it was just a three-step method that got you your greatest desires. Lure. Negotiate. Kill._

_Just as he was about to stub his cigar and pull out another one, a guard rushed in, coughing violently as the cloud of smoke swirled into his nostrils. Grayson watched impatiently as the guard dramatically fanned at the air, then grabbed the edge of the desk to support himself._

_'No hands on my desk, Kirk.' Grayson snapped, pressing the heel of his boot into "Kirk's" knuckles. Kirk yelped in pain and quickly drew back his hand. Grayson narrowed his eyes. 'What the fuck do you want, kid?'_

_'S-sir...' Kirk rasped. 'I-It's... A-Adam... he's killin' everybody!'_

_Grayson's eyes brightened. 'Is that so?'_

_Kirk looked horrified. 'Sir, isn't that against-'_

_Grayson sighed in exasperation and got up, stretching his toned limbs. 'Oh, shut up, will ya? Look 'ere, Kirk. I stuck Adam in a room with seven prisoners and told him to play nice. So from what you're telling me, he's doing the opposite. It's reverse psychology. Tell him to kill em' all, and he won't harm a hair on anyone's head.'_

_'That's not reverse psych-'_

_'It is in my books.' Grayson snapped. He stubbed his cigarette on Kirk's shirt collar, then smiled menacingly. 'Come on then, Kirk. Don't ya wanna see my little prodigy at work?'_

_Because Kirk was smart enough to know that saying "no" to Grayson was a bad move, he tagged along, spluttering his worries aloud. Grayson was fortunately in a good mood so he refrained from harming the terrified guard._

_Following the sounds of sadistic laughter and screams of agony, Grayson and Kirk came to a steel door, which Grayson unlocked and pushed open enough for them to see. Surely enough, Adam was running amok, torturing each of the seven individuals with every resource available- belts, shrapnel, a crowbar, his own blades, even clothing. One man had a strip of cloth tied tightly around his neck and an iron bar, suspending him in the air, but he had his fingers wrapped firmly around the fabric, holding it away from his neck as best as he could. _

_'Just how much longer can you hold on?' Adam asked the man, smirking. 'Isn't that cutting off your circulation? I wanna see how long you last. Maybe you can break the record.'_

_'C'mon, kid, you don't wanna do this...' A man with broken fingers pleaded. 'You don't have to hurt anyone-'_

_'Kid!?' Adam screamed, and delivered a heavy blow to the man's stomach with the crowbar. 'Who the fuck are you calling "kid"? You wanna patronize me again? Go ahead, see where it gets you!'_

_'Your mama must be proud.' Another man spat, leaning against the wall._

_Adam flinched, and his hand holding the crowbar at the ready froze. His free hand trembled, and subconciously he backhanded the man, sending him into the floor cheek first. The man groaned in pain, and Adam pressed his boot into the flesh above the man's left shoulder blade, increasing pressure until he heard a loud 'crack.' _

_'Never insult my mother.' Adam snapped, tears forming in his eyes. All memories of her flowed into his mind, and he shook his head. At once the crowbar came down again to deliver a strike to the man's lower back. 'DON'T EVER TALK ABOUT HER LIKE THAT! DON'T ACT LIKE YOU KNEW HER!'_

_Grayson watched in fascination as Adam brought the crowbar up effortlessly and struck the prisoner repeatedly, droplets of blood showering his tattered clothes. With one final movement Adam struck the prisoner's head with the crowbar, sending him falling to the ground and ceasing to move. Adam, panting, looked horrified, and studied his trembling, bloodied hands for moments until he felt dizzy. He turned and stared at the last live men- the one hanging from the iron bar, and a man who had been carved and slashed with different kinds of blades. Nothing could ever be so macabre, but Grayson saw this "picture" as an artwork. A young boy, decorated by battle, and painted in the crimson colours of war. He had created a monster, and-_

_'An artist.' Grayson said breathlessly. 'Isn't he incredible, Kirk? An aspiring artist... the battlefield is his canvas and death is his paint. I couldn't be more proud.'_

_He broke into a slow, almost taunting applause, while Kirk stood there horrified and with his mouth agape. On instinct Adam turned his head and glanced up at Grayson, who had the most malicious grin from ear to ear. He approached the trembling blond, and clapped a hand on his shoulder. 'Well done, my boy, I'm most impressed. I say you handled that like a man.'_

_Kirk looked worried. 'S-sir, he looks petrified. Are you sure it's safe to praise him?'_

_Grayson's glare became as hard and cold as stone. 'The kid's at the pubescent stage, so his hormones will be all over the place. Give him a break. Oh, and how many times do I have to tell you- I don't take orders from nobody.'_

_He looked down at Adam and smiled. 'Since all your other ones here are dead, I brought you another friend to play with. Do whatever you like with him, kiddo, the world is your canvas.'_

_He walked out, but before he left, he grabbed Kirk by his shirt and pushed him into the cell, locking the door afterwards almost instantly while laughing carelessly. Kirk, who had fallen over, lifted his head up and saw the unreadable eyes and bloodied face of Adam, a corrupted young teenager, whose lower lip quivered slightly. _

_'Before I end you,' Adam said quietly, his voice distant, 'promise me that when you get to your final destination, you'll tell my mother I love her... and that I'm sorry... for everything.'_

* * *

><p>'He could sleep in the air without falling, by merely lying on his back and floating, but this was, partly at least, because he was so light that if you got behind him and blew he went faster.'<p>

Adam stared up at his mother with awe, watching as her eyes twinkled magically, a topaz and aquamarine blend illuminated by the soft glow of the moon. Shoulder-length, choppy, blond silk locks framed her heart shaped face, and despite her wealthy, royal authority, she was dressed in a simple long-sleeved shirt and comfortable pyjama pants. Adam sat in her lap intently, breathing in her pleasant floral aroma, and watched as she ran a delicate fingertip underneath each word as her melodious voice brought them to life.

"Well then, we could go on," said John.'

"That is the awful thing, John. We should have to go on, for we don't know how to stop."

'This was true, Peter had forgotten to show them how to stop. John said that if the worst came to the worst, all they had to do was to go straight on, for the world was round, and so in time they must come back to their own window.'

'Mommy?'

His mother paused from her reading and glanced down at her little son, smiling fondly. 'Yes, my angel?'

'Is the world really round?' Adam asked intently.

His mother smiled. 'People still fight about it all the time, but I think that John's right. The world is round.'

Adam's face lit up. 'Like a big ball?'

'That's right.' She said softly, winding a soft blond lock of his hair around her finger. 'Exactly like a big ball, but one you shouldn't play with. The Earth is as precious as the life she gives... with you being the most precious gift she ever gave me.'

'Wow.' Adam said, fascinated. He tugged on his mother's shirt sleeve. 'How does Peter know how to fly?

'Because he went to Neverland and became friends with a fairy named Tinkerbell. She blew a magical dust on him, like this-' His mother blew softly on her palm, pretending that she was blowing magical dust on him. He giggled excitedly.

'Can I fly now?' He asked hopefully.

'Of course you can.' His mother replied, getting up and scooping him into her arms. She gently whirled him around while he giggled excitedly, and then carefully placed him on his bed. She drew back the covers and pulled them up over his chest, and tenderly stroked his hair. 'But it's too late to be flying right now, and little boys need to sleep.'

'I never want to grow up, mommy.' Adam yawned.

His mother smiled. 'I don't want you growing up too fast either, darling. There's not a second I want to miss. Now close your eyes, go to sleep, and let your dreams take you on a new adventure to Neverland.'

She leaned down, swept aside his soft blond fringe, and gently kissed his forehead. 'I love you, my baby.'

'I love you too, mommy.' Adam whispered, feeling himself drift off.

He didn't want to grow up quickly, but when his mother was brutally taken away from him, he was forced to grow up.

He never made it to Neverland after all.

* * *

><p><span>23 years ago... (<strong>From present time<strong>)

_So this is what it felt like to be king._

_Isolated, quiet, maybe even boring. Yes, definitely boring. Well, he'd been told that it gets better as the years go by, but for some reason he found that hard to believe._

_Eric stared ahead into nothing, while the council members around him droned on about nothing he particularly cared about. He honestly wanted to throw something at Farron, the annoying, smug council member sitting on the opposite side of the room. He did have an excuse now- he was king of Dark Haven._

_The coronation had taken place a year ago, but it felt like it happened just recently. Eric was supposed to become king of Dark Haven at the age of 25, but his mother had passed away just before the coronation from illness. So he was immedietly appointed to the throne, and here he was now, 23 years old and sitting on an uncomfortable throne. The council members were now talking about arranged marriages. Huh. Wait, marriage?_

_'Your majesty?' Scythan asked, noticing Eric was drifting off. 'I do apologize for disturbing you, but we were discussing-'_

_'Marriage.' Farron interrupted, smirking. 'I hope you know that many eligible women are trying to court you.'_

_Eric looked up, his eyes widening. 'What?'_

_'Baroness Mila Letal, Duchess Larissa Barnett...' Farron listed. 'Two of many, I must admit. Those two happen to be more interesting.'_

_'Hold on.' Eric said suddenly, and realised he was speaking informally. He cleared his throat. 'Wait just a moment. I'm not getting married.'_

_'But you must.' Scythan said. 'It is the law for the monarch of Dark Haven to have a consort.'_

_'My mother ruled without a consort.' Eric argued. 'So why should I?'_

_'She only ruled without a consort because she was focused on her lover.' Aetheis supplied._

_So it was true. Eric's mother, Shania, had ruled alone over Dark Haven. She was exquistely pretty and many men had attempted to court her, even Farron, but she was a strong, independant woman who insisted on ruling alone. However when she was travelling in America, she'd met a handsome businessman and fell for him, but it was a short-lived love affair. Shania returned to her duties in Dark Haven while pregnant with Eric and his twin sister, Angelique._

_'Well,' Farron said suddenly, 'it appears we have another prisoner to add to the collection. Care to bring him or her in, guards?'_

_'Her.' The guard corrected. He glanced at the other guard and mouthed something. They both exited, and came back with a young woman whose hands were bound behind her. Eric sat up, intrigued by the woman who stood before the guards quite calmly. What he couldn't fathom, though, is how such a beautiful girl could bring herself to this level. She was, indeed, naturally stunning. She was dressed in ripped denim shorts, a denim vest and a white tank top, but she managed to look striking. Her hair was chin-length, roughly layered blond hair, she had bright blue eyes, and a pretty face that made even Farron sit up. And Farron despised prisoners. _

_Eric made eye contact with the prisoner for a split second, and he looked away quickly while she just smirked._

_'So this is the "legendary king of Dark Haven" huh?' The girl asked, looking amused. 'I was kinda expecting someone way scarier. I'd give him about a four.'_

_'Silence.' Farron snapped. He glared at one of the guards. 'Identify her, and tell me exactly why she is in your custody.'_

_'She won't tell us her name, sir.' The guard replied. _

_'Yeah, well, I wanted to formally introduce myself.' The girl snapped. She smirked. 'Name's Brooke. What's yours, jackass?'_

_'Chris.' The other guard said excitedly. 'I get off at nine tonight.'_

_Brooke narrowed her eyes. 'I wasn't being serious.' _

_'Why is she in your custody?' Farron asked the more responsible guard again, gritting his teeth._

_The guard cleared his throat. 'She was caught attacking several watchmen, sir Farron. They were patrolling the central municipal area, and from what we have been informed of, this woman here attacked them.'_

_'Hold up!' Brooke interrupted. 'I had a reason, okay? They were being total jerks to some girl, and then they actually started _touching_ her. What was I going to do, just stand there and let them leer all over her?'_

_'Did I ask for your input?' Farron hissed._

_'Nope.' Brooke shrugged. 'But that guy didn't give you the details, and nobody else would so I did. You proud of me?'_

_Farron went red. 'I've heard enough from this peasant! Get rid of her!'_

_'__'Peasant?' Brooke sighed. 'So that's what you morons refer to me as? Please, this is stupid.'_

_'I said, "GET RID OF HER!"' Farron screamed at the petrified guards. 'Where are your god-damned brains!?' _

_Brooke narrowed her eyes, and wiped her forehead. 'Thanks, but I've had a shower this morning.' _

_Chris had to kick himself so he didn't burst out laughing. The other guard just looked scared out of his mind._

_'S-sir Farron,' he squeaked, 'I do not mean to anger you, certainly not... but we can only take those kinds of orders from the king.'_

_Farron was so humiliated, he could hardly look at Eric. 'Your majesty?'_

_Eric looked at Scythan for support, but Scythan just bit his lip and glanced at Brooke. Eric cleared his throat, pushed his long white hair out of his eyes, and rose from his throne. Every other person in the room bowed, all apart from Brooke, who raised an eyebrow._

_'What the hell?' She asked, confused._

_'Bow, stupid girl.' Farron snapped._

_'Go fuck yourself.' Brooke retorted._

_'HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!? KILL her!' Farron screeched._

_'SILENCE!' Eric shouted. Immedietly the room went silent, and Eric's cold glare caused everybody to back away or shrink in their seats. All except Brooke. She just looked impressed._

_'Wow.' She said, her eyes wide. 'What a voice. Keep talking.'_

_'Whereas yours irritates me.' Eric said, narrowing his eyes. 'Now... care to repeat why you attacked those watchmen?'_

_'I just told the story.' Brooke whined. 'Can't you learn to listen? Ugh, fine. So there I was, running away from my abusive boyfriend who hit me just because I threw out the rest of his sandwich. I mean come on, it was moldy, and he'd left it in my fridge for like two weeks. Now I have this really painful bruise on my lower back-'_

_'He abused you?' Eric asked with a trace of concern in his voice._

_'We'll get to that later.' Brooke said impatiently, waving her hand. 'So I was minding my own business when a bunch of guard dudes walked past this innocent sixteen year old girl. They started crowding around her, and she looked pretty scared. Then they actually started _groping _her. I wasn't going to let anyone do that to another girl, especially a sixteen year old. She was SIXTEEN! So I saved her. The end.'_

_Eric raised an eyebrow. 'Impressive.'_

_Brooke blinked. 'So you believe me?'_

_'You're telling the truth.' Eric said, and Brooke swore his eyes glowed for a second. 'I can read your thoughts as we speak.'_

_'Oh, really?' Brooke smirked flirtatiously. 'What am I thinking right now, then?'_

_Eric looked taken aback. 'Must I voice it aloud?'_

_'You don't have to.' Brooke shrugged. 'You can just stand there and blush.'_

_Eric actually went red with that comment. 'I assure you, I am not... "blushing."'_

_'Are too.'_

_'Stop with this juvenile behaviour.' Eric snapped, trying to conceal his embarrassment. He straightened up. 'I have a... proposition... concerning your arrest.'_

_Brooke raised an eyebrow. 'Ooh... do tell.'_

_'I will be willing to release you,' Eric explained, his brown eyes resting on the beauty before him, 'if you agree to work amongst the newer group of watchmen I'm planning to assemble.'_

_'Or you could just date me.' Brooke suggested._

_Eric froze. 'Are you asking me-'_

_'Am I asking you out?' Brooke asked. 'Well, it's usually better for the guy to ask the girl out, but if you're too dignified...'_

_Eric looked amused. 'Dignified?'_

_'Yeah, well, you're a king and all...'_

_'I'm not as dignified as you may think.'_

_'Good. Then hurry up and ask me out. I know you want to. Wait, before you do... why is your hair white?'_

_Eric looked at the council members, then back at Brooke. 'It is naturally black, but the more I advance in Necromancy, the whiter my hair becomes.'_

_'Weird, but kinda hot. So, you gonna ask me out now?'_

_Eric sighed. 'Fine. Would you be willing to date me?'_

_Brooke grinned. 'I thought you'd never ask.'_

***A/N: Aww, love has bloomed :D aren't they cute? They're just total opposites, but you know the saying "opposites attract." Eric seems almost perfect- he's incredibly intelligent, he's gorgeous, he's a king for god's sake- and Brooke is definitely not perfect. She's pretty, but she's sarcastic, witty, annoying, and she bites back. Yet Eric manages to fall hopelessly in love with her. So I think they're the perfect couple.**

**By the way, when he read her mind and said "must I voice it aloud" she was thinking 'this guy is a total hunk.' Hehe.**

**Onwards, my noble steed I have named fanfiction!***

* * *

><p><span>1 year after Eric and Brooke met...<span>

_'Oh, come on! This is just bullshit!'_

_'Shut up, stupid girl. You are not entitled to speak.'_

_'Free world, asshole, and I was taught to speak for a reason. Just because you think you're so smart-'_

_'Silence!' Farron snapped, and hit Brooke across her mouth. 'You're just like a wretched viper, coiling while we act in submissive fear- and then you strike. And do you know what I do to agressive snakes?'_

_'You kill them, blah blah blah.' Brooke sighed, rolling her eyes. 'I get the picture. Hiss hiss, motherfuckers.'_

_'All bad snakes are decapitated.' Farron snapped. 'It is the only way to properly kill them and end their worthless lives. Consider yourself a bad snake.'_

_'So you're going to cut my head off?' Brooke asked. 'Sounds fun.'_

_'Well, I was thinking of other methods.' Farron smirked. 'The last time someone was hung here was during the reign of his majesty's great grandfather. It looks like we will be breaking that long elapse.'_

_'Okay, if you're going to hang me...' Brooke said slowly, 'what was the point of that snake thing?'_

_Farron was furious. 'Do not question me, stupid woman! You should realise that if you do not charm your damned tongue, the less time you will have left of your wretched life.'_

_'You've said "wretched" about twice in the last two minutes. And quit ripping off Shakespeare.'_

_"Stop TALKING!' Farron screeched, and hit Brooke again. He glared at the guards. 'Take her to his majesty, and prove him that freeing this bitch last time was unjustified and stupid.'_

_Brooke lit up. 'Well, that's originally what I came here for. Lead on, boys.'_

_So the guards violently pushed Brooke forward to steer her in the direction of the throne room, while she just kept her mouth shut. Eventually they reached the throne room, and Brooke called out, 'honey, I'm home!'_

_Eric looked up when he heard Brooke's voice, but his eyes widened when he noticed the guards and also Farron. Trying to keep a high profile image, he stood up, and approached Brooke. 'What are you doing here?'_

_Brooke glared at him, unamused. 'Isn't it obvious?'_

_Eric tried to keep a straight face and pretended he didn't know why Brooke was there. 'No, it isn't obvious. I will ask you again, but I will not repeat myself- why are you here?'_

_Big mistake. '_Why_ am I here? That's a better question. To see you, duh. That's obvious too, but you're just pretending you don't know in front of these pricks so you don't fuck up your reputation.'_

_Damn, she was good. If Farron and those guards weren't in the room, he'd have her pinned to a wall right now._

_'Earth to jackass, my eyes are up here.' Brooke snapped. _

_'My apologies,' Eric said sarcastically, 'but maybe you should wear more clothes. You'll have less chance of getting arrested.'_

_Brooke didn't give a damn about what the consequences were, she just slapped Eric across his face as hard as she could. When she brought her hand down, she saw his cheek was bright red and bleeding. She couldn't care less. _

_Farron and the guards went to seize Brooke, but Eric held up a hand to stop them._

_'So this is where I stand, huh?' Brooke asked, hurt. 'From the beginning I was just a toy for you to fuck with. You took interest in me because I was confident, because I went against the law and didn't give a shit that it got me in jail. You thought you could keep me hopelessly in love for five fucking months while you slept with me, and then when your ego caught up with you, you insulted me and acted like you didn't care. It's pretty obvious you don't care, and it's obvious that whole "I love you" thing was a whole lot of bullshit. You don't love me, and you've stolen my heart. But I should just build a bridge and get the fuck over it. Love is pathetic.'_

_'I used to think the same thing until I met you.' Eric admitted. 'I didn't mean what I said, Brooke... and I'm sorry. I do love you, I truly do, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'_

_'Well too bad, I'm not falling for your bullshit again.' Brooke sniffed. 'You think you can just toy with me like that? I used to let you because I loved you, but now I see you for who you really are, you can't do jack shit to me. If you think I'm going to come crawling back, then you're stupid.'_

_'Brooke, be reasonable about this-'_

_'Be reasonable?' Brooke cried. 'You think you're the reasonable one? Eric, you lied to me and fucked around with me. How is that reasonable? You know what, I just don't want to think about it. We're through, asshole. Have a great life.'_

_She stormed off, and just before she reached the door, she turned around with her fists clenched and her glare set on Eric._

_'Oh, and by the way,' she said, her voice bitter, 'I'm pregnant.'_

* * *

><p><em>Brooke didn't want to talk to anybody, she just sat on her bed and hugged her pillow. She felt horrible, both because of what happened with Eric and also morning sickness. She wanted to cry, but she didn't want to give into something so stupid. Crying was pointless. <em>

_Just then there was a knock at her bedroom door, and she threw her pillow at it. 'Go away!'_

_'Brooke?' Hannah asked. 'Hun, can you please let me in?'_

_'No!' Brooke snapped. 'I want to be left alone.'_

_There was a pause, then- 'okay, I understand. I have to go out for a few hours, but I'll be back with chocolate and movies to cheer you up. And you really need to stop being stubborn about your emotions... if you need to cry, then cry. It's okay. Let it all out.'_

_'Thanks.' Brooke mumbled._

_'You're welcome. See you later, hun.'_

_Brooke stared at the wall until her vision became blurry, and tears trickled down her cheeks. All at once she burst into tears, and cried onto her pillow. Love was stupid and pathetic. Why the hell did she have to fall so hard for such a jerk? She thought he was perfect, and he was a liar the entire time. Fuck love, she was done with it. _

_She laid there sobbing silently and replaying that moment in her mind, until she heard a knock at the front door. She wanted to scream at that person to go away, but she decided to keep her cool and went to the door._

_'Who is it?' She sniffed._

_There was a slight pause. 'Someone who was stupid and wants to admit he was wrong.'_

_Brooke became furious. 'Oh, really? Well you have a total nerve trying to own up now. Is it just because you want a good time? Wait, why am I even asking that? Of course that's why. Go away, I don't want to see you anymore.'_

_'That's fine, I'll wait in the rain until you change your mind.'_

_'Fuck you!' Brooke cried. 'I'm not changing my mind!'_

_'Brooke, there's nothing I can say more honestly right now than I'm sorry, I am hopelessly in love with you and I love you more than you could ever know. You've kicked the doors of my heart open, walked in and you've never left. Your beauty paralyses me, and your attitude enlightens me. It's almost impossible to describe how I feel about you. Please talk to me... say something, anything... I'd give the world to just hear your voice.'_

_'How long have you been waiting?' Brooke asked quietly. _

_'Five minutes. I'll wait longer if I have to.'_

_Brooke looked down. 'No, please don't... just go.'_

_'Not until you forgive me.'_

_'You can be so stubborn when you want to be.' Brooke said affectionately, hugging her pillow dreamily. __She threw her pillow at the door, and it bounced off. 'And a total liar!' _

_'Stop it. I never lied to you, I was...'_

_Brooke narrowed her eyes. 'You were what?'_

_'... egotistical. Hung up on my own pride. Pride is a sin... and I paid the worst price for it. I lost you. I love you, Brooke, so much it overwhelms me. I'm a hopelessly in love man, so lost in your beauty that I cannot think straight. I will do anything for you, darling. I love you so much.'_

_'I love you more.' Brooke whispered._

_'I love you more than you know.'_

_'Eric...'_

_'Brooke...'_

_Brooke hesitated. 'But I can't be with you... you're a king, I have a criminal record. I'm just a normal person.'_

_'Could you open the door?'_

_Brooke paused for a while, then sighed and opened the door. Her eyes widened._

_'I love you, Brooke, and I would give anything to make you happy, to see you smile... you are perfection, and whenever I see you I feel breathless- and I act foolishly. When I say I would do whatever it takes to be with you, I entirely mean it. I can change for you... if it destroys my reputation, so be it. I don't give a damn anymore. You're all I want. Brooke... will you marry me?'_

* * *

><p>He'd never forget the night he lost the love of his life.<p>

When he arrived home he noticed the broken windows, and rushed into the house to check if his wife and son were alright.

_She_ wasn't alright.

In the centre of the living room was the most horrifying and heartbreaking thing Eric Raiden had ever seen. His own wife lying in a crimson pool- still, silent, unmoving.

Shocked at the sight before him, Eric was in denial. He couldn't process this situation- he was numb, and paralyzed by what he saw. It couldn't be happening. It couldn't be real.

It could only be a nightmare intending to tear him apart.

A pained groan escaped his mouth, and he rushed to Brooke's side, scooped her cold, weak body into his arms and held her close. The sticky red liquid coated his leather gloves, and he stared at it in horror then glanced down at Brooke. Even in death she was beautiful, but a different kind. Lifeless, drained of colour, pale, and tranquil. It was far too long before her time, and though she had been brutally taken from her family, she didn't seem to mind.

Of course she didn't. Here she lay in the arms of her beloved husband, her last breath given just moments ago. And during her last breath, she gave every last bit of strength she had into loving her husband and their child. As a mother she felt she had failed to protect her child when he was stolen from her as she lay dying, and as a wife she wished she could have told Eric how much he had given her over the years.

But that couldn't matter now. It was all on the surface, and all that mattered right now was that Eric was holding his beloved wife in his arms, staring into eyes that could never look back at him again. She was unmarred by the hand of Death, but yet Eric could not recognize her. The colour and energy had drained from her face, leaving her an empty, unfeeling shell.

It was then when everything came crashing down on Eric, and he shook his wife desperately, pleading for her to just wake up. She was like a limp ragdoll in his arms, surrendering as he shook her. She couldn't respond anymore,

He cried out her name several times, begging her awake, but she had long left him. He had never cried, but now he let out a pained sob and held her against his chest, rocking her. Grief, despair, memories, rage... they all struck him at once, and he couldn't differentiate between wanting revenge against the person who took her from him, and wanting a gun to put him out of his misery.

The love of his life, the woman he so deeply loved, his best friend and his soulmate, taken from him and though lying in his arms, still far from his reach.

All he had left was their son, and he promised Brooke that he would devote his life to bringing up their child.

But he wanted revenge, on whoever took Brooke's life. It was said that only time would heal the pain, but to Eric this was a fallacy.

Time could not heal the scars of your own heart ripped away from you. Maybe it could heal the pain.

But if that was the case, to this day not a minute had passed.

* * *

><p><span>8 years ago... (When AdamMasky has returned to his father)

_'He looks like her.'_

_Eric stood beside Angelique, watching over Adam as he slept. It was almost heart-wrenching as to how much he resembled Brooke. He had her soft blond hair and her strong-willed blue eyes, and such a similar energy. Eric was overcome with relief- his son, after nine years had finally come back to him, and he had fulfilled his promise to his wife. He had promised to find their son and raise him the way she wanted him to be raised, and that he would protect him._

_'If you count his hair and eyes, then yes, he looks like her.' Angelique agreed. She smiled. 'But his face looks more like yours.'_

_'I just can't believe he's here.' Eric whispered. 'Nine long years I've searched for my son... I never gave up on him, even when finding him seemed... impossible. And now... he's with us again.'_

_'He looks almost ill.'_

_'After he has rested and eaten, he'll be fine.'_

_Angelique nodded. 'Eric, I'll keep an eye on Adam while you speak with Scythan. You said you wanted to investigate where Adam has returned from.'_

_Eric's worried gaze settled on Adam for a moment. 'I'm afraid I must. Angelique... don't let him out of your sight. I cannot lose him again.'_

_He left the room, clutching his pendant. 'He's come back, Brooke. He's finally with me again... and I promise I will protect him.'_

* * *

><p><strong>*AN: That... that was a really sad chapter ._. I think I shed a rare tear back there. That's kinda scary. Shedding tears isn't natural for me. I think I need to get checked out for that.**

**Well, what did you guys think? Was it a good chapter, too depressing, or did you really not give a damn? Luckily for y'all who didn't like it, chapter 7 is almost complete and should be out in a few days. I'm terrible at updating. I'm sorry, okay? D: I didn't mean to leave you all hanging.**

**I love you all. Please, don't kill me! I is innocent, I swear! *cough***

**By the way, in case you didn't already realise, each part was set a certain period of time BEFORE the present day in this story. Before Alice has met Masky face to face, blah blah blah. Brooke and Eric were quite young when they had Masquerade. Brooke was 19, Eric maybe 24? Can't remember. Either way they were young and reckless.**

**Brooke is an unfortunate character. Her father who she cared about immensely died when she was just 12, her mother started sleeping about with random dudes, and she ended up living with her grandfather. He was good to her, though, so that's not unfortunate. But then she got expelled from high school for beating up bullies who were targeting other girls. She felt that nothing was going right for her until she met Eric :)**

**Well, that's all for now, folks. In the next few days, chapter 7 will be up :D so stay posted!**

**PLEASE REVIEW, PLEASE :) I don't care who you are or what you have to say (unless you say something super mean and I have to get my friend Death to pay you a visit) but I like getting reviews. Almost as much as I like food. And that's saying something. **

**Wouldn't you want to make me happy on such a boring day? Come on, you know you want to... :D**

**Please. There, I said it. Happy now?***


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